


Something New

by Viczen



Series: Something New AU [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Everyone gets a voice in their head!, F/F, F/M, Gaslighting, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Other, Puns are a thing that will happen, Reader Is Not Frisk, Selectively Mute Frisk, Tags to be added, Temporary Character Death, Timeline Shenanigans, Well - Freeform, at least every POV we've seen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2018-07-15 08:39:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7215379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viczen/pseuds/Viczen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You and your life long friend Rosie are taking Frisk on a camping trip over the weekend on Mt. Ebott for Frisk's birthday when a large hole is discovered and you all fall in. And what do you mean Rosie isn't what she seems to be?</p><p>~~~~<br/>Come join the fun as 3 friends traverse the Underground trying to find their way home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! A brand new Sans X Reader! but not really. Platonic? Nah, the ULTIMATE FRIENDSHIP! or something like that. IDK. I have a vague idea of where i want this to go, so ye. Have fun? I guess.

“FRISK! Watch where yer going, kiddo!” Rosie called out, “Don’t want ya to get hurt and then what are we gonna tell your folks, huh?” She reached out and grabbed the small child before they could trip over a tree root.

 

**_“They don’t really care about me.”_ ** Frisk pouted, signing furiously.  **_“They force me to talk, and wear dumb dresses. Besides, they aren’t my real parents.”_ **

 

“C’mon, you have to put up with it for a while longer, until the state can let you live on your own.” You say, hitching your backpack up higher onto your back. The three of you had decided to go camping on Mt. Ebott for the weekend, before the new school year started. Frisk’s foster parents were more than glad to have them out of the house. “Or till Rosie is able to legally adopt you.”

 

“(Name), I could adopt them legally tomorrow. The issue is the State is a massive pain in the rear about a 20 year old adopting a 10 year old. For some reason, they think that I’m not ‘responsible’ or ‘physically-able’ to tend to a child.” Rosie rants, throwing her hands up into the air as her fox tail swishing angrily. “Just because I had an accident when I was small, causing me to be paralyzed, and then through the miracles of science, regain it and gain a tail in the process, I’m not able to handle the needs of a kid. It's absolutely ridiculous.”

 

“Yeah,” You remark joining the two of them on the ledge that they were waiting on, “It really is dumb.” You continue to climb the mountain, eager to reach the old cabin that you and Rosie had found last summer. 

 

“I see it!” Rosie raced up the deer path to the clearing. 

 

“Careful there! Getting injured would really put a damper on this weekend of fun.” You call out, helping Frisk up a particularly difficult ledge.

 

“Party pooper!” She stuck her tongue out, and waited for you to catch up.

 

**_“Your always in such a hurry, Rosie.”_ ** Frisk scolded the older girl.  **_“I swear I wonder who is the true adult here with how you act.”_ **

 

Rosie merely laughed. “C’mon, we are nearly there.” She lead the way, tail wagging with happiness. “I can’t wait to see the golden flowers. We are going to make so many flower crowns! Oh! There it is!!! There is the little cabin!” 

 

The clearing stretched out before you, patches of golden flowers scattered around. The afternoon sun casting a shimmering glow over the land. The cabin was slightly run down, and covered with plant life. 

 

**_“It’s so pretty. And you kept this to yourself, (Name)?”_ ** Frisk was amazed at the beauty. 

 

“Well, I wanted to surprise you. Do you know what happens this weekend?” They shook their head, watching Rosie run around grabbing a couple of flowers from each patch. “I heard that it was a certain munchkin’s birthday. And Rosie and I want you to have a safe pla-” Your train of thought got derailed as Frisk gave you a great big hug.

 

“HEY GUYS! I FOUND SOMETHING!” Rosie was standing on the far side of the clearing, waving wildly. You head over to where she was standing, with Frisk following. “This wasn’t here before.” She gestured to this large hole in the ground. “Listen,” she dropped a pebble down there. You stood in silence for a while, but no noise came back. “Wonder how far it goes.” She leaned over the edge and lost her balance. “WHOA!” You reached out to grab her, and Frisk held on to you, but gravity was a bitch and dragged all three of you down into the darkness below.

  
  


 


	2. The Ruins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet Goat Mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find something confusing, feel free to ask :D

You feel the sun’s gentle rays on your closed eyes. Opening them, the hole that you all had fallen through sat way up high. You could see pillars surrounding the edge, but they were covered with vines and were falling apart. _“How did we survive that? Did we all survive?”_ You could feel your backpack start to dig into your back so you stand up and take in the rest of your surroundings. You, Frisk and Rosie were in a bed of bright yellow flowers. Rosie was laying face down, while Frisk was exploring the cavern that you all were in.

 

 _:The flowers broke your fall:_ a strange voice said in your head. It was hard to place a gender to it, but they sounded like they were young. The fuck? Before you could truly question the voice you got distracted by Rosie trying to stand up.

 

“Sweet mother of pearls. Da fudge just happened? Oooo! There’s the rock that I dropped down the hole.... Oh yeah! I fell down too... I think when I landed I undid some of the wires. I can’t feel my legs anymore. Oh! Hey there, (Name)! Thanks for trying to save my clumsy butt.... Did Frisk fall too? Yep, there they are! Hey, squirt! You alright? I’m guessing so with all the running. (Name), I’m gonna assume that your fine too, seeing as your standing. Where are we? This pillars look OLD!” Rosie rambles, looking about the room. “Look! A doorway! (Name), can you carry me?”

 

You sigh and walk over to the noirette, shifting your backpack to your front. “One of these days your gonna be too heavy for me to pick you up, Rosie.”

 

“Nah, I’m gonna stay a lightweight.” She grinned, her dark forest green eyes sparkled with glee. “Now, up! Up! Up! Up! Up!”

 

“You are such a child. C’mon Frisk! Give me a hand getting her onto my back.” You crouch down with your back facing Rosie. Frisk came over and once Rosie had wrapped her arms around your neck, they pushed up as you stood so you could hold onto her legs. “Alright. Our only option to getting back up there I guess is to go forward into the doorway.”

 

 **_“Aunty Rose, is there anything that we can do to make your tail better?”_ ** Frisk signed, clearly worried for your friend.

 

“Well, in the pack there is a small maintenance kit. I think what happened was I managed to short-circuit it. There should be a small zappy thing that will, essentially reboot my tail. Though I always pass out when it gets used, so I wanna get to a safe place first. Also I don’t want (Name) here to have to carry me when I’m passed out.” She explained as you walk through the door.

 

“Howdy!” A cheerful voice rang out. Looking around you could only see a single yellow flower sitting in the middle of a patch of sunlight, smiling up at you. Wait.... _SMILING?!?_

 

“Uhhhh, hello?” You tentatively say.

 

“Yer new to the Underground, aren’tcha?” The flower spoke, swaying slightly. “My name is Flowey! Flowey the Flower! Golly! You guys must be so confused! Someone should show you how things work around here. I guess little old me is gonna have to do! Ready? Here we go!” The world faded away around you as you felt a tugging sensation in your chest. Glancing down you watched as a blue heart popped out. Looking over at Frisk you saw a brilliant red heart float in front of them. “See that heart?” Flowey was talking again, “That is your SOUL. The culmination of your very being. It's what makes you, you! Your soul starts out weak, but can grow strong with lots of LV. What’s LV? Why LOVE, of course! Wait. There is three of you but only 2 souls?” The flower looked confused.

 

“Hey, Flowey, right?” Rosie spoke up, cheerfully grinning. “Look up and you’ll find mine.” She pointed up and a much larger dark green heart floated in the air above you. It was the same color as her eyes, you observe. Flowey almost looked afraid as he looked at it, and gulped.

 

“Y-you know exactly what is going on here, don’tcha. Heh, this will be fun to watch.” He vanished into the soil and the world regained its color. All 3 of your souls returned to their respective bodies.

 

“The only way out is forward, yes?” Rosie glanced down at you, patiently smiling.

 

“Right. Let’s get going.” You nod, and walk forward with Frisk following closely. The next room was bright, and very purple. Before you stood what looked like to be a gateway to a city with a set of twin stairs leading up to the entrance. Between them you could see a pile of red leaves. Frisk rushed to the leaves and touched what looked like to be a shining star.

 

“Oh my! Are you alright?” At the entrance stood a tall bipedal goat lady in a purple and white dress. She seemed to give of this motherly aura. “Ah, forgive me. I seem to have forgotten my manners. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first humans to  have come here in a long time.”

 

“You see, Ms. Toriel, when I fell I think I managed to short-circuit my tail. Do you have a safe place where we could stay while my friend tends to it?” Rosie spoke up.

 

“Why, yes. And there is no need to be so formal, you can simply call me Toriel. Follow me.” She smiled sweetly at you and walked through the doorway.

 

 _:You can trust her. She means you no harm:_ The voice piped up on your mind. _:Toriel has a kind soul:_

 

 _“Who are you?”_ You think at the voice, as you followed the goat lady. Frisk ran around inspecting everything.

 

 _:Hmm. You will find out soon enough:_ It falls silent once more.

 

The next room was fairly small and there was 6 pressure plates on the floor and a lever on the wall. The next door was closed.

 

“Welcome to your new home, young ones. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins. This place is _riddled_ with puzzles, ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must solve them to move from room to room.” Toriel explained as she stepped on several pressure plates in a certain order and then flipped the lever causing the door to open.

 

Rosie giggled. “Did you just make a pun?”

 

“Oh, dear. I’m afraid that it just slipped out.” A faint blush spread across her white fur.

 

“I don’t mind. I find them to be _punderful_.” Rosie smiling

 

“I think that they are _pawsitively_ wonderful.” You grin as Toriel lets out a soft snort and Frisk made a noise of distress.

 

 **_“How could you, (Name).”_ ** was all that they signed.

 

The next room had a couple of streams with bridges over them. At the end of the room you could see another hallway, but it was blocked off with some spikes. “Small one, would you be so kind as to pull some levers for me? I have marked which ones that need to be moved.”

 

Frisk ran ahead and pulled the aforementioned levers You hear a thunk echo through the room and see that the spikes have sunk into the floor, allowing you passage to the next room. In it you could see a what was either a training dummy or a manikin sitting by the doorway to the next room.

 

“As humans living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation. How ever, worry not. The process is simple. When you encounter a monster you will enter a Fight. While you are in a Fight, strike up a friendly conversation. Stall for time, I will come to resolve the conflict. Why don’t you practice on that dummy over there?” Toriel nodded to it, and then blocked the path onwards. You trade glances with Frisk, who just shrugged. You walked up to it, and like before the world lost its color and your blue soul and Rosie’s green one popped out. However this time you had 4 boxes floating in front of you: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, MERCY. You thought about what she had said and chose ACT and was presented with 2 options: Check or Talk. You selected talk.

 

“Nice to meetcha!” Rosie said.

 

“Uhh, hello there.” Your not sure what else to say. The dummy doesn’t seem to be much for conversation. Toriel is pleased and color returned to the world once more. She goes into the next room and you and Frisk follow.

 

“I wonder if you can solve this next puzzle.” Toriel said as she walked down the long hallway to the next room. The hallway had a weird zigzag pattern on the floor, and at the curve of it you found a sign that said ‘The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint.’ Past that you saw a bridge over a small river that _WAS MADE OUT OF SPIKES?!?!_ “Hmmmm, this one seems too dangerous for you.” Toriel tapped a brick in the wall with her paw, causing all of the spikes to retract. “Come along now, children.”

 

Continuing on, you reached a VERY long hallway. “Now I have something very difficult request to ask of the three of you. I want you to make your way to the end of this hallway without me. Forgive me for this.” Toriel ran on ahead very quickly.

 

“The fudge? Well, I guess we do as she says.” Rosie sighed. “Onwards my steed!”

 

“Pfft you wish. But yeah, let's go. Stay close to me, Frisk.”

 

 **_“Ok, (Name).”_ ** Frisk grabbed Rosie’s pants leg and you started forward. As you walked you and Rosie threw puns back and forth. Nearing the end of the hallway you saw a clean pillar. When you passed it, Toriel stepped out from behind it.

 

“Greetings, my children. Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. Thank you for trusting me. I did this to test your independence for there will be times where I must leave you on your own while you are staying here.”

 

“Ah. And this little exercise couldn’t have waited until after I got my tail fixed, why, bhean dóiteáin?” Rosie asked. “I’m sure my friend is getting tired of carrying my butt around.”

 

Toriel looked surprised at the language shift. “Uhhh, can ya translate what you just said for the rest of us?” You ask your friend.

 

“Oh, sorry. I called her a fire lady. Bhean means lady and dóiteáin means fire in Irish.” Rosie explained. “But seriously. If I were to attempt to fix my tail here and now, your gonna have to drag my unconscious body to...where ever it is your taking us. Cuz I will pass out from a sensory overload.”

 

“Oh! Of course! This way.” Toriel quickly lead the way through the rest of the Ruins. Occasionally you and Rosie would encounter some small monsters, but either they would look at Rosie’s soul and run away or Toriel would scare them off. Eventually you reached a courtyard that had a lone tree surrounded by more of those red leaves. “This is my home. Feel free to stay as long as you need to.” She lead the way inside. It was quite yellow and cozy, it had this homey feel to it.

“Mkay. Do you have a couch or something that I can sleep on?” Rosie asked.

 

“Ah yes. This way.” Toriel showed you to a room that had a pair of child sized beds. “Sorry they are a bit small.”

 

“Tis cool. (Name), you can put me down on the bed. And then hand me my little tool kit.” You do as your friend asks, letting out a sigh of relief once her weight is off your back.

 

“Ok, one tool kit coming up.” You slide the your backpack off and start digging through it until you find the rainbow duct taped pencil box. “Here ya go!” You hand it to her and she pulls out, as she calls it, the world’s smallest cattle prod.

 

“Thank you~! G’night.” She stabbed the base of her tail and with a yelp, passed out. Frisk pushed her around so she was fully on the bed and then joined her in sleeping.

 

“Oh my! Is she alright?” Toriel asked, quite clearly disturbed by your friend’s actions.

 

“Yeah. She’ll wake up in a little bit. Every so often her tail shorts out and she needs to give it a kick-start.”

 

“If I may ask, why does she have a tail? She is a human, is she not?”

 

“Oh, yeah. Rosie is a human. When we were little she had an accident that left her paralyzed and then through science she was able to regain the feeling in her legs and in the process got a tail.” You explain as you follow her to the living room.

 

“I see. Well, I need to go get a few things in order to make something. Do you like cinnamon or butterscotch?”

 

“Hmmm. I would have to say I love both.” You grin.  

 

“Excellent. Please remain here while I am gone. It is quite dangerous to explore the ruins on your own. Feel free to read any of my books if you wish, but do not go down into the basement. I shall return shortly.” She left through the front door.  

 

You decide to explore her home while you wait for her to return. Beyond the living room was the kitchen and the other rooms you could open, aside from where Rosie was passed out, was her room and the bathroom. Curiosity swayed your hand in going down the stairs. The basement was more of that purple stone and a long hallway that curved at the end. Peering around the corner you saw a large pair of doors engraved with the same symbol that was on Toriel's dress.

 

 _*Knock knock*_ The knocking startled you. Figuring it would be rude to not answer, you do.

 

“Who’s there?”

 

“Canoe.” The answering voice was a rich baritone. Apparently he was making a knock knock joke, so you play along.

 

“Canoe who?”

 

“Canoe tell me what you did with the old lady?” He asked threateningly.  

 

“Nothing. She just went out shop-”

 

“Child! There you are! I thought I told you to not come down here!” Toriel strode up to you, looking very much like a disappointed mother.

 

“And she has returned. I’ll go ahead and leave now.” You inform the guy and the run back upstairs to find Rosie sitting in front of the fireplace reading one of the books that Toriel had. “Hey you. I see the jumpstart worked.”

 

“‘Course it did. I could do a twin swords dance if I wanted to. But, a) I don’t have two swords and I’m not gonna use sticks and b) I don’t wanna.” She looked up at you grinning. You stare at her in shock. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

 

“Frisk? Can you come here a moment and make sure I’m not going crazy here?” You call out, not looking away almost afraid that what you see will disappear. The pitter-patter of their feet draw near.

 

“Hmm?” They make a questioning noise.

 

“Please tell me you see what I see here.” You briefly glance at them.

 

“Seriously, the fudge? You are looking at me like my skin has turned purple with lime green polka dots. What do you see?”

 

“Your eyes are different. They are VERY different. Like, almost not-human. They are black and gold.” You inform her.

 

**Where a normal human had white, Rosie’s were black and her pupils were a bright gold.**


	3. Ruins part deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> GOAT MOM PLZ HAV MERCY 
> 
> also Flowey is a little shit

“What? Your nuts. My eyes are normal.” Rosie started to laugh. “Good joke though.”

 

“I swear! Your eyes don’t look like a humans! They’re this weird black/gold combo!” You throw you hands up into the air. 

 

Rosie sighed and covered her face with her hands. “And I swear my eyes are normal.” She removed her hands and looked at you. You felt your jaw drop as you gazed once more into her forest green eyes. No hint of the black eyeball with the gold pupils. “Frisk, my eyes always looked like this, right?”

 

**_“Well, for a moment they looked different, but that could be due to the fact that I just woke up.”_ ** Frisk signed rapidly.

 

“This is crazy. May be I need sleep. How long have we been down here, anyway? A couple of hours? A day? Longer?”

 

“Stór! Stór! Take a moment to breath. All of this purple can’t be good for you. Now that my tail is fixed we can continue onwards and get back to the surface.” Rosie placated.

 

“Ah, I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” Toriel walked into the room. “I’m sorry for eavesdropping, but you won’t be able to get back to the surface.”

 

“What do you mean?” You turn your attention to her.

 

“You see, monsters are trapped down here due to a magic spell cast by humans a long time ago that created a barrier around the mountain. It is designed to keep us in, though things can cross into the land as you have.” The goat woman explained.

 

“Is there anyway to break it?” You question. 

 

“Yes, but it is a great sacrifice. In order to break the barrier we need the strength equivalent to the Souls of the mages that cast the spell in the first place. And that number happens to be 7 souls. We can’t use a monster’s soul because it would take almost all of our souls combined to equal the strength of one human’s soul.” She explained.

 

“Banríon, you know that we must go on. We cannot stay for long.” Rosie stood up and looked her in the eye. “You need to let us continue our journey, and who knows? Maybe we will find a way to save everyone, and set the Underground free to live on the surface once more.”

 

“Rosie, your Irish is showing again.” You drawl, but before much more could be said 3 growls made their presence known. “Heh, seems like we need to eat.”

 

“I can make us a pie to eat. After we have eaten you must prove to me that you can handle yourselves out there.”

 

**_“Thank you, mom.”_ ** Frisk grinned up at her. 

 

“Oh! Would that make you happy, to call me mother? I thought one of these two were your caretaker.” Toriel was pleasantly surprised. 

 

“Nah, we are just good friends who also babysit them. I have no complaints about you becoming their legal guardian.” Rosie smiled. 

 

“Ah. If you don't mind me asking, Rosie, what is the other language you speak called? I do understand what you are saying, just curious. You also seem to know things I haven’t said, or shown yet, have we met before?” She walked into the kitchen and you all trail behind her, watching as she puts together the ingredients for pie.

 

“The language is Irish. Or maybe it’s Gaelic. One of the two. My great-grandmama spoke it a lot. She insisted on not letting the language die out, so she taught the whole family how to speak it. Gran was full of really interesting stories; one of them was about these goat creatures that could wield fire. I’m pretty sure I threw her old journal into the pack. Was planning on reading some of the stories to Frisk while we roasted marshmallows. But, we are in the mountain and the marshmallows are at the cabin. And I just realized I’m rambling, so I’m gonna shut up now and go grab my hoodie so I can hide in it.” Rosie back peddled out of the room and down the hall, quietly meeping.

 

You just sigh and shake your head as Toriel looked worried. “Don’t mind her, Toriel. She gets like this at times. Give her an hour, or when she smells food, and she’ll be back.” Frisk tugged lightly on her sleeve to get her attention.

 

**_“Mom, I’m hungry. When will the pie be ready?”_ ** Frisk signed. 

 

“Very shortly, my child. Watch.” She held the unbaked pie in her paws and then gently breathed fire on to it, turning the crust a nice golden brown.

 

“Woah!! That is so cool! You really are a fire lady! See, Rosie has this thing where she gives a person an element or two that they resemble in some way. Like I’m water cuz I tend to go with the flow, Frisk is also a fire person. Their determination burns bright and can spark determination in others.” 

 

“I see. Would you like some tea while we wait for the pie to cool off?”

 

“Yes, please.” 

 

~~~~~~~

 

“Well fudge.” It has been three days since you have fallen into the underground. Toriel has been teaching all three of you all you needed to know about SOULS and FIGHTS. For some reason, only you and Frisk were given hands on practice for the fights, Rosie always had an excuse for sitting out. But finally, Tori told you how you were to prove yourself. She lead you to the large door in the basement. 

 

“This is a one way door into the rest of the underground. Fight me, and prove you are strong enough to survive out there.” And with that the three of you were drawn into an encounter with Goat Mom, the world lost its color and your three Souls lit up the monochrome room. 4 boxes floating in front of you: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, MERCY. Above your head floated a fifth box, simply showing your HP. Glancing over at Frisk and Rosie you saw they had a similar display.

 

**20/20 HP**

 

**20/20 HP**

 

**40/40 HP**

 

You briefly wonder why Rosie’s is higher, but quickly dismiss it a focus on dodging the fireballs that Toriel is throwing at you.

 

“Well fudge!” Rosie repeated. “I have no intention of fighting you!” You and Frisk nod in agreement. 

 

Curious you tap the ACT button and then select CHECK. 

 

_ :Toriel ATK - 80 DEF - 80 Knows what's best for you: _

 

**_“Please Mom! There must be another way!”_ ** Frisk pleaded with her. 

 

“Either fight me or run away!”

 

“No!” All three of you slammed your fists down on the Mercy button that floated in front of you. Quickly you dodged the fireballs that Toriel threw at you, your blue Soul following your movements. 

 

_ :Toriel is acting aloof: _

 

“Please, Toriel! If you are that worried about our safety, then come with us!” Rosie begged, barely flinching as a fireball hit her Soul. 

 

**38/40 HP**

 

“I cannot. I simply cannot leave this place.”

 

**_“Mom, we will be fine! Won't that friend you told us about help keep us safe?”_ **

 

“Please, we can live a good life here. Though I guess the Ruins do seem rather small once you get to know it...” More fireballs fly through the air. You are unable to dodge all of them. 

 

**18/20 HP** says the box now floating above your head. 

 

“I see you are determined to leave. You are just like the rest. They come, they leave, they die. Can't you see that I am trying to protect you, you naïve children. If you leave, they... Asgore... Will kill you.”

 

“How can we be safe if we cannot fight our own battles. The only child here is Frisk. Both (Name) and I are adults, barely, but we are. We just want to explore! To be perfectly honest, there is nothing for us on the surface. We three are all that we have, and now we have you. Mom, please!” Rosie continued talking, taking hits that were aimed at you and Frisk. You realize that this is the first time that she had called Toriel ‘mom’ to her face. Toriel also notices.

 

_ :Toriel looks through you: _

 

**30/40 HP**

 

“It's true, Mom. The life we had on the surface was average. Before we fell, the three of us were planning on living together here on the mountain. Now we will live together under it, with you.” You plead, letting out a small whimper of pain as another fireball grazed your arm.

 

**16/20 HP**

 

Frisk had somehow managed to not get hit by any of the attacks.

 

“Very well. I see I cannot change your minds.” The world once more gains its color and your Souls returned to their respective places in your chests. “Come up stairs and I shall help you prepare. Dress warmly my children, for it is very cold in the other side of the door. If you ever wish to come back, just give me a call.” You traded cell numbers with her, and when she found out that Frisk didn't have a phone of their own, she gave them one of her old ones. 

 

“Bye, Mom.” You pulled on your backpack over your dark green sweater. “We’ll call you when we get to a safe place to stop for the night.” All three of you hug and then you are out the door.

 

The next room was very similar to the room where you met Flowey. And speak of the devil, there is the weed.

 

“Clever, very clever. You managed to spare a monster. I wonder what you would do if you came across a relentless killer. Would you give up and let me take the crown of ruling this world, or will you kill and become like your best friend? This shall be interesting to watch. Certainly is something new.” He monologues and then disappears into the ground once more.

 

“What the...? Rosie, what does he mean? You’ve killed before?” You glance at her, worriedly as you continue to leave the Ruins.

 

“He’s just playing with your head. The only deaths I’ve caused were in video games.” Rosie grinned. “C’mon, there is the exit.” She ran up to another set of double doors with the Delta Rune on it. You remember the story Toriel told you about it. An angel who has seen the surface shall appear and the underground shall go empty. 

 

“Right, you would tell me if you had?”

 

“Well, yeah. I can't pay my own bail, also would need help hiding the corpse. Jokes aside, of course I would tell you my darkest secrets. Your my best friend. Now, ready to see what else this world of monsters has in store for us?” You nod and help her push the door open.

 


	4. Snow and Skeletons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ya meet the skele-bros

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think i'm gonna make reader just be gender-neutral.... I have yet to refer to them with female pronouns, i don't even do it here.... TAGS ARE GONNA BE EDITED

The first thing you notice, as the doors slam shut behind the three of you, is the amount of snow that covered the place. The next is the pine trees, and THEN you notice how cold it was.

 

“Holy shiitake mushrooms, it's cold.” You can see your breath when you speak. 

 

“Well duh, Tori did tell us that it was gonna be cold.” Rosie snickered, and then side stepped to dodge a snowball that Frisk threw at her. “Oh it is ON, SQUIRT!!” She bent down and quickly made a snowball of her own and tossed it at Frisk, catching them square in the chest. 

 

**_“This is war, aunt rose!”_ ** Frisk runs down the path and hides behind a large branch that blocked the way. You laugh, watching both of them throw snowballs back and forth, though you all kept moving forwards. One stray snowball catches you in the face, and they freeze, a look of horror on their faces as the snow slowly slide down and plops onto the ground. The air is quiet. Rosie’s tail curls around her leg. 

 

You take a deep breath. “Which one of you threw that?” You ask calmly, wiping the remainder of the snow off. They both point to the other. “If you admit to it, your punishment will be less.”

 

“It was me....” Rosie’s tail is now tucked between her legs and she hugs it. “I just wanted you to join in the fun.” You swear if she had animal ears they would be laid back flat against her skull.

 

“Uh-huh.” You kneel down and gather up a large handful of snow. But before you could go and dump it down the back of her yellow hoodie, a loud crack rang through the air. “The fudge?” You look around to see what caused it, and find the large branch from earlier  _ broken into pieces _ .

 

“MEEP! I guess we aren’t alone here in this forest.... As for the snowball fight; truce, Friskers? At least until we stop for the day.” Your friend looked worried. Frisk nods, and the three of you continue down the path. As you walked, you could faintly hear a 4th set of footsteps behind you, but every time you turned around to look, no one was there. Though out of the corner of your eye, you could see a shadowy figure following you. At last you come across something new. A ravine with a bridge across it, and a gate like thing across the bridge. You tried to take a step onto the wood, but you were frozen in place. The crunching of snow drew closer until it was right behind you.

 

**“H u m a n s. Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.”** A deep masculine voice spoke. Against your will, you turned in place and stuck out your hand for the handshake. Before you stood a skeleton that that wore a comical grin, as well as a dark blue hoodie, basketball shorts and _fluffy pink house slippers, with socks?!_ It shook your hand. To say you were surprised when a loud farting sounded had to be the understatement of the year. As it died away, the silence was almost deafening, until it was broken by the skeleton laughing. “hehehe, the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. it’s always funny.” He chuckled, and Rosie and Frisk were snickering. “uh, you ok there bud?” He asked, looking slightly worried at your lack of response. “that’s your cue to emote, or something...”

 

“Yeah, just wasn’t expecting that. It is a great  _ ice _ breaker.” You grin. Rosie’s laughter grew louder, while Frisk groaned.

 

“ _ snow _ problem. the name is sans. sans the skeleton.” Sans’ grin seemed to be a permanent feature on his face.

 

“I’m (name) and this is my friend, Rosie. The kid’s name is Frisk.”

 

“you guys are humans, right? that’s hilarious. see, i’m actually suppose to be on the watch for humans, but i just don’t have the  _ heart  _ to capture anybody. now my brother, papyrus, on the other hand is a human-hunting FANATIC. hey  actually, i think that’s him over there. i have this idea. go through this gate thingy.  yeah go right on through, my bro made the bars to wide to stop anyone.” He practically herds the three of you over the bridge to the other side. The open land widened and you could see a small look out station and a weirdly shaped lamp. 

 

_ :Hey, looks like Frisk can hide behind the lamp:  _ Oh, the voice is back.  _ :I never left, just so you know. Just didn’t have anything to say:  _

 

_ ‘I’m gonna call you Peanut, until you feel inclined to tell me your real name’  _

 

_ :Why?: _

 

_ ‘Because your like a peanut gallery. So, I call you Peanut.’ _

 

“(NAME)!!!” Rosie yelled, startling you out of your thoughts. “We gotta hide! Skelly’s bro is gonna show up shortly! Frisk is already hiding behind the lamp, we gotta get behind the station!” She drags you to the aforementioned location, just in time.

 

“sup, bro?”

 

“YOU KNOW WHAT IS ‘SUP’, BROTHER! IT’S BEEN EIGHT DAYS. AND YOU. STILL. HAVEN’T. RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES! YOU JUST HANG OUT AROUND YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!” A high pitched voice rang out, you are reminded of Skeletor from He-man. You peek through a crack in the wood to see what was going on.  _ Oh shit boi! He’s TALL!!  _ You see a very tall skeleton, you swear he is over 7 ft tall, standing not 5 feet from you with his gloved hands on his hips. He was wearing what looked like a handmade Halloween costume.

 

“staring at this lamp. it’s really cool. do you wanna look?” Sans just stood there, hands buried in his pockets, grinning like a fool.  _ ‘Is he serious?’ _

 

_ :Deadly. But don’t worry, Paps is pretty oblivious: _

 

_ ‘Did you just pun?’ _ Peanut didn’t respond as you watched ‘Paps’ basically throw a hissy fit. 

 

“NO!! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!! I WILL BE THE ONE!! I MUST BE THE ONE!! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” He then struck a dramatic pose, an unfelt breeze causing his scarf to flutter. “THEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!! RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO,  BE MY, ‘FRIEND’? I WILL BATH IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.” Ok, he is a precious cinnamon roll.

 

“hmmm... maybe this lamp will help you. it might have a few  _ bright _ ideas.”

 

“SANS!! YOU ARE NOT HELPING!! YOU LAZY BONES!!”

 

“awww, thanks bro.”

 

“THAT WASN’T A COMPLIMENT!! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE!! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY PASSING DAY!!”

 

“hey, i’ve gotten a ton of work done.”  _ ‘oh please no.’  _ “a skele-ton.”  _ ‘god damnit.’  _ You have to stifle your laughter. Peanut set of a rim-shot and Sans winked in your direction.

 

“SANS!!!!”

 

“c’mon. your smiling.”

 

“I AM AND I HATE IT!! SIGH, WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION....” 

 

_ ‘Did he just say ‘sigh’?’ _

 

_ :yep: _

 

“wow, sounds like your really working yourself...” Sans pauses dramatically. “down to the bone.” He winks once more in your direction and Peanut hits another rim-shot.

 

“UGH!!! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOU.. TRY PUTTING A LITTLE MORE  _ BACKBONE _ INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!” He cackles and quickly strides away, only to come back. “HEH!” And off he goes.

 

“ok, you guys can come out now.” You stand up, readjusting the backpack and walk over to him. Rosie was making a snow angel. “i suggest that you keep on moving, my bro might come back soon and then you would have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” 

 

“Right. Rosie! Frisk! Let's keep moving!” Frisk came scampering over to you and latches themselves onto your leg. Rosie ran on ahead. “I am surrounded by children.” You sighed, and began to follow your friend.

 

**_“Well, I am a child.”_ ** Frisk had detached themselves and was walking beside you.

 

“actually, hey.” Sans called out. “hate to bother ya, can you do me a favor? i was thinking, my brother has been kinda down lately. he’s never seen a human before. and i think seeing a pair of humans just might make his day. don’t worry, he’s not dangerous. even if he tries to be. thanks a million. i’ll be up ahead.” You watched as he turned around and started walking towards the way you had just come from.  _ ‘The fuck?’ _

 

_ :Don’t worry about it. Your in a world of monsters and magic: _

 

_ ‘Gee, thanks Peanut.’  _ You sigh once more and continue walking. Frisk runs up to a tree and touches something at its base. Rosie, on the other hand was kneeling, messing with this strange box. You blink, and Rosie looks different.... “Rosie, what happened to your tail?”

 

“What tail? I’ve never had a tail. Except for cosplays.” Your friend stood up, and put her hands into her  _ robin egg blue  _ hoodie. “Don’t tell me that the snowball actually did damage.” 

 

“What? No, I'm fine. Let's keep moving.” You keep going forward, slightly confused about the change.  For a moment you feel light headed. Shaking your head, you see once more Frisk at the base of the random tree, and Rosie kneeling by the box that was next to a sign. It was like a video game, and everyone had rubber banded back. Rosie once more was wearing her golden hoodie, and had her fox tail. “The fudge?”

 

“Sup, (name)?” Rosie stood up from the box, burying her hands into her hoodie. Frisk ran along the path, from that direction you could hear flowing water.

 

“Uh... It’s just that Sans said ‘pair’ of humans. Like there was only 2 humans in our party, not 3.”

 

“Weird. Maybe cuz of my tail.” She chuckled, and shrugged. “C’mon! I can see Papyrus’s tracks leading this way.” 

 

You watched her retreating back and Frisk came running back. You laughed as they jumped onto her back. But you were still slightly disturbed by that rubber band.

 

_ ‘Hey, Peanut?’ _

 

_ :Yes?: _

 

_ ‘Do you know what just happened?’ _

 

_ :What do you mean? We were just standing there watching Rosie mess with the box: _

 

_ ‘So you didn't see her in a different colored hoodie and no tail?’ _

 

_ :Nope: _

 

“Space control to commander (Name), space control to commander (Name). Please report, (Name)!” Rosie unknowingly interrupted your conversation. “You ok there in your head space? You don't have strange new voices making snide commentary, do you?”

 

“H-how do you know?” You stopped in your tracks and stared at her. 

 

“Your face.” She answered bluntly. “Your making weird expressions and your eyes have this far away glaze to them. I’m not saying voices in your head is a bad thing, quite the opposite actually. They can give you a different perspective on things. And their advice is generally good. Though they may try to get you to do things that might result in their revival and subsequent takeover of the world, dooming humanity and others to a thousand years of pure misery and madness until some people decides to step up and set things straight. But that probably won't happen.” You continued to stare at her in shock. “What? You know I like Lovecraft.” She grins and the two of you laugh.

 

“OI!!!” You both quickly look at Frisk.  **_“We need to keep moving.”_ ** They signed when they had your attention.

 

“Right, sorry, Friskers.” The three of you continue on your way, unaware of the eyes that watched you.

 

<>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\ 

 

Sans knew that there was going to be something different about this run. The air was different when he jolted awake after the reset. A phantom pain of the last knife slash echoed across his chest. “AH SANS! I SEE THAT YOU ARE UP ALREADY! THIS DAY IS GOING TO BE AMAZING! COME ON DOWN FOR SOME BREAKFAST PASTA!” On the first day of the run, he decided to knock on the Ruin’s doors. Someone new answered his knocking. Thinking the worst, he threatened the new voice but they said that nothing had happened to Toriel. And then Tori showed up, they punned and told knock knock jokes for a little while, and she had to go again. Something about having to check up on an injured guest. And then for the next 3 days, there was nothing until the slam of those large, heavy stone doors echoed through the woods to his post where he was napping.

 

He stepped through the Void to his hiding spot in the woods, and was surprised to see not just Frisk, but 2 others as well. A human and someone who he wasn’t quite sure about. But she looked human, despite the reddish orange tail that swished softly behind her and the amount of LOVE he could feel radiating from her SOUL.

 

He watches as the tailed girl get into a snowball fight with Frisk. He watches as a stray hits you in the face. Before you could retaliate in any way, he cracks the log, scaring you three. He watches as you approach the bridge. He does his normal routine, walking behind your group; teleporting to the shadows when you turn around to look. He froze the three of you in place when you reached the bridge. He did his normal spiel, complete with whoopie cushion and a few extra puns. Frisk and Tail are laughing, you are just frozen with a faraway gaze in your eyes. “uh, pal that’s your cue to emote.” he remarks and he watches as your focus snaps back on him. He wasn’t expecting you to say a pun though and then introduce yourself and your friends. He guides you to his post and watches you just stand there spaced out until Tail drags you behind his station. 

 

He goes through his usual routine with his brother, once more throwing in an extra pun or two. He grins as he watches you try to keep quiet, occasionally your eyes space out. His brother goes off to check on his puzzles, and he calls you out of hiding. He makes a remark about how there was only 2 humans in your party, Rosie just grins at that. He watches you go on your merry way. 

 

He teleported to his next hiding spot on Box Road and continued to watch. Frisk hit the SAVE point. He watched as you watched Rosie mess with the dimensional box. He watched as Frisk encountered Snowdrake Jr. He watched as Frisk lost the fight and the world went white for a moment as Frisk LOADED. He was expecting to see everything stay the same as when Frisk had hit the SAVE point, but Rosie - no it couldn’t be her. The new person looked similar to Rosie, but she felt different. He decided to call this new person Blue Rosie, for she was wearing a blue hoodie instead of gold and she had no tail.

 

He crept closer to hear you confront her about the lack of a tail. He heard Blue respond that she never had a tail. He saw the worry and the ‘oh shit’ look flash across her face. He watched as Frisk encountered an Ice Cap. He watched as you noticed this and stepped in to defend them. He watched you fail. He watched as Frisk died on purpose so they could LOAD. The world went white. Everything was how it was. Rosie was yellow and tailed again. He watched as you asked about the remark he had made about there being only 2 humans in your party. He watched as Rosie laugh and say that it was probably due to her tail. He watched as you spaced out and the confusion that crossed your face. He watched as Frisk and Rosie traded glances.

 

He watched as Rosie snapped you out of your space daze with a remark about voices in your head making snide remarks. He watched as you were surprised. He watched as Rosie began to ramble about the voices wanting to take over the world. And then say that that wouldn’t be possible. He watched as the three of you began to move towards Papyrus. He was surprised when Rosie locked her eyes on him behind your back. She grinned and her eyes changed color, from the green with white eyeballs to gold with black. And then her eyes went back to green and he clutched his skull as it began to hurt. A memory flashed across his mind: 

 

_ He was standing in the lab. Before him was a large glass tube. He sensed someone beside him, and he turned to look at them. Parts of them, no her, was glitched out or faded, but he could see that she was wearing a gold hoodie and her eyes were gold and black. He could also see a pair of grey ears poking out of her black hair. Sans could feel the air shift as a pair of grey tails softly swished behind her. He looked back at the tube. Inside was a tiny skeleton floating in a green glowing liquid. _

 

_ “That’s our baby brother, Sans. It’s gonna be your job to make sure he stays safe. Your gonna be the best big brother.” _

 

_ He looks up at her and grins. “Of course, sis! And your already the best big sis! Your gonna be even greater with two awesome brothers!” _

 

_ “Hehehe, of course I am. With the Magnificent Sans and the Great Papyrus at my side there is nothing I couldn’t do.” She pulls him into a hug and gently rubs his skull. _

  
The memory fades. Who was that girl? Why did he call her sis? It has always been just him and Papyrus, right?


	5. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You 'officially' meet Papyrus. Rosie is a meme-ing little shite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot a sentence in the POV change. can you spot it?

“Hey, Rosie?” The three of you were walking down the path. In the distance you could see Sans and Papyrus talking.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What would you say if - No, it’s stupid.” You sigh and look off at the trees. Rosie stops in her tracks and looks over at you.

 

“There are no stupid questions. Only the ones that go unasked.” She grinned and stuffed her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. “So what would I say if what?” It was clear that she wasn’t going to move until you ask. Frisk ran back to that box for some reason.

 

“Well... What would you say if I saw a different you? A you that didn’t have a tail and wore a robin egg blue hoodie instead?”

 

“I’d say that is pretty cool. You got to see a different thread of the multiverse. I guess in that one I didn’t fall out of that tree doing something dumb as a child. Yet we still became best of friends and still became Frisk’s non-legal guardians and managed to fall down here.”

 

“Uhh... I never said that we were here.... Or that Frisk was in the scene....” You are slightly disturbed.

 

“Hmmm? Oh, I just assumed. C’mon, it’s rude to keep them waiting.” Rosie continued to walk, gracefully leaping over a rock that was in the middle of the path.

 

“SO AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE!” As the three of you had drawn close enough to hear what was being said, Papyrus notices you and began to do this excited little thing where he would look at you and then spin to look at Sans, who faced in the opposite direction. You just stood there and watched. This went on for a minute as they got faster until they both just spun in a circle a few times. Turning their backs to you, Papyrus stage whispered to Sans, “SANS!! OH MY GOD!! IS THAT... A GROUP OF HUMANS?!?!?!??!?!” They turned back to face you.

 

“uhhh, actually i think that’s a rock.” All 5 of you looked at the rock that was behind you.

 

“OH...”

 

“hey, what’s that in front of the rock?”

 

Papyrus gasped. “OH MY GOD!!! (IS... IS THAT A GROUP OF HUMANS?!?!)”

 

“(yes.)”

 

“OH MY GOD!!! SANS!! I FINALLY DID IT!! UNDYNE WILL...! I’M GONNA... I’LL BE SO.... POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!! POPULAR!!! ...” Papyrus cleared his throat. “HUMANS! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA!”

 

Before he could continue saying anything, Rosie got this glint in her eye. “Rosie, no....” You warn her.

 

“Rosie yes.” She grinned.

 

“AH, HUMANS? WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?”

 

“A meme.” Rosie said, still grinning.

 

“WHAT... IS A MEME?”

 

“It’s something that is popular on the internet on the surface.”

 

“INTERNET?”

 

“Like undernet, just on the surface.” She explained.

 

“OH!”

 

“Rosie, don’t do the LoTR meme...” You facepalm.

 

“But, he said the line....” She is making the puppy dog eyes at you.

 

You sigh and look up at the ceiling, noting some rocks up there twinkle slightly like stars. “You can meme later. I don’t think they will get the joke.”

 

“Awwwww.” Rosie pouts and then shakes her head. “Sorry about that, oh Great Papyrus. Continue with your speech.” She bowed to the tall skeleton, you assume the playfulness of the action going right over his head.

 

“GASP! YOU HAVE HEARD OF ME?!?”

 

“But, of course! Who hasn’t heard of the Great Papyrus, the best maker of spaghetti the Underground has ever seen? I’ve also heard that your pretty cool too.” She grins. You hear Peanut snort in the back of your head.

 

“INDEED! *AHEM* HUMANS!! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA!! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN... THEN..! I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.. IN ANY CASE!! CONTINUE!! ONLY IF YOU DARE!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!” Speech delivered, Papyrus ran off.

 

“well, that went well. don’t worry, buds. i’ll keep an eye socket out for ya.” Sans winked at you and then followed his brother.

 

Once they were out of sight, you turned to Rosie. “ _Now_ you may meme.”

 

“YAAASSSSSSS!!!” She giggled as she ran over to where Papyrus was standing. “Humans! YOU! SHALL! NOT! PASS!” She raised an imaginary staff up into the air and slammed it down onto the ground. Then she proceeded to fall to the ground howling with laughter.

 

You sigh and walk over to her. “C’mon you dork, let’s go see what that cinnamon roll has in store for us.” She just continued to laugh, so you just grabbed her hood and began to drag her behind you. Frisk ran up and walked beside you, giggling at the scene.

 

“Ack!!! Alright! Alright!” You release your hold and Rosie scrambled to her feet. “Geez, ya really know how ta treat a gal.” You can hear the grin in her voice, so you just shake your head and continue down the path. The next thing that you see, that isn’t snow or trees, is a poorly constructed cardboard outpost. There was a note attached to the front of it.

 

_“YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER... I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN! (NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.)”_

 

Ok, this just cements your opinion that Papyrus is a cinnamon roll. Continuing on your way, you spot a sign. “‘Absolutely NO MOVING!!!’ Ok, that’s weird.” Further down the path you see a large dog house/sentry station. For some reason, you are frozen in place. And then, the best way you could describe it was an anthro husky wearing a pink tank top, smoking a dog treat raised its head from behind the counter.

 

“Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving... for example a group of humans, I shall make sure they never move again!! But I can't stop shivering all of a sudden. Who... who's there!?” And with that the world lost its color as the three of you were brought into an encounter. The only color you could see was the glow of your blue soul. Out of the corners of your eyes you could see Rosie’s green soul and Frisk’s red soul floating before them. You could also see their health, and yours, floating above their heads.

 

_:Doggo blocks the way:_

 

Once more you see the 4 options floating before you. You tap the ACT option and then CHECK, deciding to pet Doggo at a later point.

 

_:Doggo 6 ATK 1 DEF. Easily excited by movement. Hobbies include: squirrels:_

 

“Don’t move an inch!” He says, throwing a blue knife at you.   _:Seriously, don’t move. Blue attacks don’t hurt you if you remain still:_ Seeing as Peanut has yet to lie to you, you listen to their advice and hold still. The knife just phase right through you.

 

_:Doggo can’t seem to find anything:_

 

You select pet and give Doggo a pet on the head. _:You pet Doggo:_

 

“WHAT!!! I’VE BEEN PET!!!” Even with all the barking of “PET! PAT! POT!” he still threw a blue knife at you. Once more you hold still, letting it phase through you. _:You can spare him now:_ You hit the MERCY button and spare Doggo, letting color return to the world as everyone’s souls retreated back into their chests. _:You gained 0 exp and 30 gold: ‘This is very much like a videogame....’_ You think, adding the gold to the gold that Toriel had handed you.

 

“S-S-S-Something pet me... something that isn't m-m-m-moving... I'm gonna need some dog treats for this!!!” Doggo hides behind the counter again. If you look closely you could see faint wisps of smoke floating up.

 

Not wanting to waste any more time, you continue to walk down the path. You see Sans leaning against a tree. Frisk runs up to him and gives him a hug, surprising him.

 

“whoa, nice to see you too. uhh, kid? do you know what is up with your friend?” He points behind you at Rosie. Turning around you see her standing ramrod straight, staring wide eyed at where Doggo was. Her tail was puffed out to the max, looking like a bottle brush. She seemed to be muttering something under her breath.

 

“Oh, sugar. I forgot about this....” You sigh and walk back to her. Once there you wrapped your arms around her, picked her up and carried her over to where Sans and Frisk watched with awe and amazement. When you set her down, her mutterings grew louder.

 

“That was a dog. That was a _dog._ Holy sugar that was a dog, anD IT TALKED. I am a tree now. I am a tree and I’m not moving. No sir, no ma'am. I am not moving for that was a dog. That was a dog. That most definitely was a talking dog. I am now a tree.” She kept going along in a similar vein.

 

“what’s the matter with her?”

 

“She has this fear of dogs. If she sees one in real life, she will freeze up like this. Pictures and other forms of media are ok. There is only two ways to snap her out of it. A sudden change of temperature, or pain.” With that you grab the front of her hoodie, and slap her across the face a couple of times.

 

“The fudge!!” Rosie yelped, rubbing her cheeks as she looked at you with shock. “What did you do that for?!”

 

“You were practically frozen stiff after you saw Doggo.” You tell her, and then freeze.

 

“What? Don’t tell me that my eyes are looking weird again.... I swear they are normal.” She whined, the bright orange fox ears that you were staring at lay flat against her head.

 

“Not that. It’s just that you’ve sprouted ears.”

 

“I’ve always had ears, what are you talking about?” One ear twitches.

 

“the ones that are on top of your head, pal.” Sans remarks, pointing to them.

 

“Huh?” She pats her head, and a look of recognition flashes across her face. “Oh, those! Yeah, I’ve always had them.”

 

“Uhhh, no. I’ve never seen them before, and I’ve known you for quite some time.”

 

“I hid them under my hair?” Rosie glanced from side to side, looking very much like she didn’t want to talk about this. She was even doing that nervous thing with the fingers.

 

“Why does that sound like a question? And your hair is black, you’d think someone would notice that brilliant orange peeking through.”

 

“Uhhhhh....” She seems to be sweating now, her tail is agitated and the ears in question were once again laying flat against her head. “I hid them like this.” She aggressively started to fluff up her hair, and then smoothed it back down. When she pulled away her hands, the ears were gone.

 

“buddy, you sure you don’t have anything interesting to share with the rest of us?” Sans’ eyelights were faint pinpricks.

 

“Mmmm. Not at this point in time. Though I do know a _load_ of things.” She grins, and out of the corner of your eye, you see Sans and Frisk trade glances.

 

“Mkay, if your done with cryptic nonsense, we have a really cool skeleton to humor.” You turn to Sans, “Now you were waiting for us. There must be some reason.”

 

“huh? oh yeah. here’s something important to remember. my brother has a very special attack. If you see a blue attack, don’t move and it won’t hurt you. here’s an easy way to keep it in mind. when you see a stop sign, you stop, right? stop signs are red, so imagine a blue stop sign instead. simple, right? when fighting, think about blue stop signs.”

 

Peanut was very helpful and made it so you could hear the colors. You briefly wonder if you are high, or crazy when Peanut reminds you that you are 100% sane and sober. _:Your in a land of magic and monsters, you dipshit. It’s not that hard to hear colors:_

 

“Such friend. Much help. Very wow.” Rosie piped up, looking very much like a cat with cream.

 

“Rosie, why are you memeing right now?” You sigh.

 

“Colors. Font. It makes perfect sense to meme.” She flailed her arms about for a moment. “You know what? I’m gonna go and see what that sign says. It’s probably a no-shit-sherlock sign but tis something. The Glorious Rosie is dashing off again!!” She posed dramatically, and then dashed off to the sign that sat in the middle of a small frozen pond. Frisk chased after her. You stood there with Sans, watching them skate about on the ice and then run up the path leading north.

 

“is she always this weird and cryptic?” Sans broke the silence.

 

“Yep. Though the cryptic shit always gets explained in time. Well, almost always. I still don’t buy that weird trick with the fox ears. Ever since we fell, she’s been a bit strange. Stranger than usual, I should say. I’m worried about her.”

 

<>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\ <>\/ <> /\

 

 **_“Rosie?”_ ** Frisk signed to their friend, after talking to the snowman and agreeing to take a piece of him to someplace far away.

 

“Hmm?”

 

 **_“Are you alright?”_ ** They were worried. Rosie seemed to remember or know things that she wasn’t suppose to, and ever since the fall she had this dark aura to her. Doggo felt it when he encountered them. Flowey knew it as well. There was also the bit with her health; though that could easily be dismissed due to the fact that she was an adult.

 

“Why wouldn’t I be? I haven’t changed. I’m still the same as I was on the surface.” She buried her hands in her golden hoodie, and locked her forest green eyes with Frisk’s chocolate brown ones. Her brilliant orange tail, with the white tip, swished gently behind her.

 

**_“Really?”_ **

 

“Yes indeedy, Friskers. C’mon, I wanna see what Papyrus has in store for us.” Rosie ran back down the path.

 

 _:I don’t know about her, Frisk. She wasn’t suppose to join us. Only (Name) was suppose to fall with us. She is new:_ The voice of the dead child spoke up. They always had this air of ‘I’m both young and old.’ to them.

 

 **_:I know, Chara. I’m worried about how this will change things:_ ** Frisk followed Rosie back to where you and Sans were standing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil cackling of the author followed by some coughing* ok, my throat doesn't like that.... ANYWHO
> 
> WE MEET CHARA!!! and Chara and Peanut are TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE! 
> 
> also the color you see, and what Rosie is being a cryptic little shite about, is the exact thing that Sans says when he talks to Frisk in the run and teaches them about blue stop signs. ((plz humor me on this))
> 
> Vic: Rosie, will you quit it with the memes?  
> rosie: NEVAR!!!  
> vic: YOUR SCARING THE MUNDIES!!! well, monsters in this case. BUT STILL  
> rosie: CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP!!  
> vic: i will go find a dog and bring him here  
> rosie: *gasp* you wouldn't!  
> vic: i would. now lets stop with the the 4th wall breakage...


	6. Puzzling is it not? And more dogs. (poor rosie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More puzzles, and dogs. Just when are we gonna reach that town that Toriel talked about?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not dead. Writers block is a bitch. Now! On to the puzzles!!

When Rosie and Frisk returned, the three of you continued heading east. Sans had somehow managed to get ahead of you, for you saw him standing next to his brother. 

 

“YOU ARE SO LAZY!! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!!”

 

“i think that’s called... sleeping.”

 

“EXCUSES! EXCUSES!” Papyrus just then noticed you standing there. “OH-HO! THE HUMANS ARRIVE! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU... MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!!! FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE ELECTRICITY MAZE!!! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THE MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL HAVE... IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK. OK YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW!” 

 

“I love mazes. (Name), can I do this one? Can I? Can I? Can I?” Rosie is bouncing up and down excitedly. 

 

“I don’t know. Can you? And he said there was electricity. You think you can handle it?” You look at her, an eyebrow raised.

 

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “ _ May _ I run the maze? And I’m pretty sure that my tail is going to be just fine. The voltage of it probably isn’t that strong.”

 

“Then be my guest.” You wave your hand towards the maze. She giggles and takes a step forward, only to find Papyrus getting zapped.

 

“SANS!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!” Papyrus stomps on the ground.

 

“i think the human has to hold the orb.”

 

“OH. OK!” And he walked. Through. The maze. Leaving a trail of his footprints. You sigh and get this mental impression of a facepalm from Peanut. “HOLD THIS PLEASE!” He tossed the orb into the air and quickly ran back  _ through the maze. _ Rosie caught it just as he reached the other side. “OK, TRY NOW!” 

 

“Mkay~!” You and Frisk watch as she skips merrily along the path. “For the giggles.” That was your only warning as she smacked a wall with her free hand.  _ BZZT~!!! _ And she giggled. “Just as I thought.” She resumed skipping along to the end, tail wagging.

 

“INCREDIBLE!! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL!! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY.... TOO EASILY! HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM!! NYEH HEHEHE!” And the cinnamon roll strode off, taking the orb with him. You chuckle and walk over to Sans. Frisk runs at Rosie and jumps onto her back, and they go giggling off after Paps.

 

“hey, thanks.... my brother seems like he is having fun. by the way, did you see that weird outfit he is wearing? we made that a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn’t worn anything else since. keeps calling it his ‘battle body.’ man, isn’t my brother cool?” He asks, his grin seemed softer as he talked about his brother.

 

“ _ Snow  _ problem. He is the coolest.” You watch him practically light up with delight.

 

“(NAME)! (NAME)! (NAME)!” Rosie came running back, emerald eyes sparkling with joy. Frisk was still on her back.

 

“What? What? What?” You turn to her. You can’t help but smile at her energy, a drastic change to the tree like state she was in earlier.

 

“There is this bunny, or rabbit monster over there selling ice cream!!!! Tho he calls it Nice Cream. Can we get some? Please?”

 

“Why are you asking me? Your an adult.”

 

“Cuz your the one with all munny.” 

 

“Fiiine.” You turn back to Sans to say that you’ll probably see him ahead, but he has already left. “Huh. Well, lead on.”  

 

Frisk slid of her back and she ran off with a whoop. You and the child follow her at a more leisurely pace. You can’t help but feel like someone, or something, is watching you. You see Rosie standing next to an ice cream cart that has a yellow and red umbrella chattering merrily with the blue rabbit monster that you assumed ran the stand. 

 

“Hi there!” The blue rabbit’s ears stood on end with excitement. “Would you like some Nice Cream? It’s the frozen treat that will warm your heart!”

 

“Sure. How much?”

 

“Just 15 gold per piece.” 

 

“Ok, we’ll take 3 please.”

 

“Alright, that will be 45 gold. Have a super fantastic day!” He beamed at you, handing each of you a popsicle. You nod in thanks and had over the gold.  _ :You now have 350 gold left: _ Peanut informed you. Crossing over a bridge, you see Sans once more leaning casually against a tree on the other side of what you could only call a mini-golf course. You decide to go over to him while Rosie and Frisk played with the game.

 

“i’ve been thinking about selling treats, too. want some fried snow? it’s just 5G.” He says as you draw near.

 

“Really? Isn’t that just water? But sure, I’ll take some fried snow.” You figured you would humor him.

 

“did i say 5G? i meant 50G.”

 

“50G? Nah, I’m gonna have to pass on that price.” 

 

“your right. it’s still too low.”

 

“(Name)!!” Rosie came running up to you and tripped over a hidden rock and face planted in the snow. “......” She muttered into the ground, her tail was wagging happily so you knew she was alright. 

 

“Pfft. I can’t hear you if your talking to the ground.” You chuckle at her and watch as she rolls over and flails like a turtle for a bit. Rosie looks up at you with pleading eyes and you take pity on her, knowing full well that she could get up on her own, and help her stand.

 

“Thank you~! So! Friskers and I were playing the ball game and when we got it in the hole a red flag appeared and we got 50G!” 

 

“That’s great, Rosie! Now you have some spending money of your own and you don’t have to pester me.”

 

“Awwwww, but pestering you is so much fun!! But, ye. I’ll keep this gold all to myself.” Frisk tackled Rosie when she said that. “Ok. Ok. I’ll share with you, Friskers.” She laughed. 

 

“C’mon you two, I’d like to get through these puzzles that these two skeletons have for us before we become popsicles.”

 

“Kay~ We need more plot development anyway.” Rosie stood up and brushed the snow off. “Race you to the flag, Frisk!” She dashed off with Frisk close on her heels.

 

You stare at them for a moment, and then follow.  _ “What? Plot development? What is this, some fanfiction where the author has hit a writer’s block?”  _

 

_ :........mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm >.> <.<: _

 

_ “How can I see those faces?” _

 

_ :Magic, bitch: _

 

_ “YOU SOUND LIKE A CHILD, WHY ARE YOU SWEARING?!?! Its weird.” _

 

_ :I’m not a child. Now pay attention to the world around you: _

 

“HUMANS!!! I HOPE YOUR READY FOR...” Before you stood Sans and Papyrus on a large ledge, in front of them there was a piece of paper. “SANS!! WHERE IS THE PUZZLE?!?”

 

“it’s right there. on the ground. trust me. there is no way they are getting past this one.” Sans grinned widely. You begin to wonder if the smile is permanent, but then you remember earlier. 

 

Curious, you investigated the piece of paper. It... it was just a word search. Hell yes. You pull off your backpack and rummaged through it for a pencil and sit down to solve it. A few moments later you solved it except for that one really long word that you swear is a printing error. You put the pencil back into your bag and as you stand up, you decided to leave the paper there. You grab your backpack and return it to its rightful resting place on your back. Then you walk up to the brothers.

 

“SANS!!! THAT DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

 

“whoops. i knew i should have used today’s crossword instead.”

 

“WHAT!? CROSSWORD!? I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT!! IN MY OPINION... JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST.”

 

“what? really, dude? that easy-peasy word scramble? that’s for baby bones.”

 

“UN. BELIEVABLE. HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!!”

 

_ :Which do you think is harder? Jumble or crossword?: _

 

“Ummmm. I would have to say that the Jumble is harder.” You figure you would humor  _ :heh:  _ the cinnamon roll. 

 

“HA! HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT! NYEH! HEH! HEH HEH!” Papyrus dashed off, presumably to make sure the next puzzle is ready for your little group.

 

“thanks for saying ‘junior jumble’ just to appease my brother. yesterday he got stumped trying to ‘solve’ the horoscope.” You chuckle at that and continue on your way. The three of you find a table that has a plate of spaghetti frozen to it, with a broken(?) microwave next to it. There is a note from Papyrus on the ground next to it.

 

_ “HUMANS!! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. (LITTLE DO YOU KNOW THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP... DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU!! YOU’LL BE SO BUSY EATING IT... THAT YOU WON’T REALIZE YOU AREN’T PROGRESSING!! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!)  _

 

_ NYEH-HEH-HEH, _

_ PAPYRUS” _

 

“Oh by the stars above and below, that is so adorable. He is such a cinnamon roll!” Rosie took the note from you and read over it quickly. You see Frisk touch something shiny at the edge of the ledge. They then run along the path. You and Rosie follow them. You see a sign beside a tree. ‘WARNING: DOG MARRIAGE’ That has to look adorable. “Wait... Dog marriage? That means there is more dogs.” Rosie looked terrified. 

 

And as if summoned, the three of you were encountered by Lesser Dog. The world lost its color, and you take a moment to stare at the dog. He was wearing grey armor and according to Peanut he  _ :Wields a stone dogger made of pomer-granite:  _ as well as a large shield with the Delta rune on it. You glance over at Rosie and see that she has gone stiff. 

 

You barely raise your hand to pet him, and Lesser Dog got excited.  _ :You can spare him now:  _ You dodge the flying barks and then tap the MERCY button. As color returned to the world you smacked Rosie upside the head. “Come on, there are more puzzles to solve.”

 

“Right. I’ll be a moment, gotta collect myself and get mentally prepared for more dogs. You two go on ahead. I’ll catch up with ya.” She rubbed the spot you hit and gives you a toothy grin. You think you see a pair of fangs, but that can't be right. 

 

**_“Do you want me to come with you?”_ ** Frisk signed. 

 

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. I need you to watch over (Name) for me, they might do something silly in the name of puzzles.” She ruffled Frisk’s hair, much to their chagrin, and walked off back towards the Nice Cream stand, hands once more stuffed in the golden hoodie’s pockets. 

 

“Welp. I guess we should keep going.” They nodded and continued along the path. Further along you see an unusual pile of snow. Next to it was a row of spikes, preventing you from continuing down the path. Curious, you shoved the snow aside and found a crudely drawn map of the small area with an X in the top right, between what looks like two trees. Frisk had already run back, presumably to the spot marked on the map. You catch up to them just in time to see them flick a lever. You hear a thunk that reminded you of back in the Ruins when the spikes fell. The two of you once more continue on your way and find the row of spikes had retracted. 

 

**_“C’mon. We have more puzzles to solve.”_ ** Frisk signed and then skipped along the wide ledge that the two of you were on. Suddenly, two dogs wearing black robes and carrying very large battle axes approached. 

 

“What’s that smell? (Where’s that smell?)” They said almost in unison and circled around you, sniffing the air. “If your a smell... (... identify yoursmellf!) Hmmm... Here’s that weird smell.... It makes me want to eliminate. (Eliminate YOU!!)”

 

_ ‘Is there another word that could be used in places of suddenly?’ _ You can't help but wonder as the world loses its color and you are drawn into a fight. 

 

_ :Is this really the time to think of such things?!?: _

 

You watch Frisk tap their ACT button and then roll in the snow. Realizing they had the right idea, you do the same.

 

“Don’t touch my hot dog! (He means me...)” The duo spoke and swung their axes at you, which you dodge by rolling out of the way.

 

You hit the act button again and select the re-sniff option. “What! Smells like... (Are you actually a pair of lost puppies?)” Dogamy throws blue and white hearts to Dogaressa. You hold still as the blue ones pass right through you. Frisk gets your attention.

 

**_“I’ll pet male dog, you pet female dog.”_ ** You nod and do just that.

 

“Wow!! Pet by another pup!! (A dog that pets dogs...amazing!)” They spare you and you tap the mercy button, returning color to the world. “Dogs can pet other dogs??? (A new world has opened up for us...) Thanks, weird puppies!” The couple wander off.

 

“Well, that was interesting. Glad that Rosie didn’t encounter them. I wonder what she is up to right now? Oh well the way is now clear, let’s continue.” You re-adjust your backpack, which had slipped when you rolled earlier. The path lead you south to a pair of blue X’s on the ground with a sign and a switch. You walk up to the sign; ‘Turn the X’s in to O’s and then press the switch.’ You shrug and walk over one X and find it changed into a red O. Frisk walked over to the other one and then you tapped the switch. You heard a clunk, and glancing ahead you observed a row of spikes retract into the ground and the O’s turned green. Beyond the spikes you saw Papyrus facing away from you.

 

“WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME???”

 

Figuring honesty would suit you best, “I left it there.”

 

“REALLY?! WOWIE... YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOME COOKED PASTA, JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME???”

 

“Uhhh....” You look over at Frisk and they just shrug.

 

“FRET NOT HUMANS!! I, THE MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS... WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH NYEH!” He walked off and stopped shortly ahead. You trade glances with the small child and follow him. “MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION! HOW SADDENING...” He continues talking when you catch up to him. He looks a little down, but then cheers right back up. “SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO... WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM??? NYEH HEH HEH!”

 

You shrug, “I don’t know.” Frisk skips ahead to what looks like the next switch puzzle.

 

“AH! HUMANS! HMMM HOW DO I SAY THIS? WAIT! WHERE IS THE OTHER HUMAN? THE ONE WITH THE TAIL?”

 

“She went back to the Nice Cream cart, I think. Not sure. Rosie was pretty freaked out about the dog monsters we’ve encountered so far.”

 

“OH! I SEE! WELL, YOU WERE TAKING SO LONG TO ARRIVE I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE. UNFORTUNATELY THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUALLY, MY LAZY BROTHER NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I’M SAYING IS... WORRY NOT, HUMANS! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE ALL CAN PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF. I’LL TRY NOT TO GIVE THE ANSWER AWAY!!!”

 

You looked at the puzzle, and watched them solve the puzzle with ease. “Amazing, Frisk! It would have taken me a while to solve that.” 

 

“WOW! YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT WITHOUT MY HELP... INCREDIBLE!! I’M IMPRESSED!! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLE LIKE I DO! WELL, I’M SURE YOU’LL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!” He strode off around the completed puzzle to where Sans and Rosie stood. How did they get ahead of you?  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp


	7. Are we there yet?

“How did you get ahead of us?” You can’t help but ask, thoroughly confused. Sans and Rosie traded glances and she shrugged.

 

“It’s a secret~” Frisk ran and leapt into Rosie’s arms, “Heya, munchkin. Was I gone long enough for ya ta miss wee ol’ me?” She laughed as they gently bopped her cheek.

 

“good job on solving it so quickly. you didn’t even need my help. which is great ‘cause i love doing absolutely nothing.” Sans remarked, and Rosie snickered. “no  _ bones _ about it.”

 

“So how much more are we gonna have to do? I think some of us are getting a bit chilled to the  _ bone  _ here.” Frisk nodded at Rosie’s statement and rubbed their arms. You knew that long-sleeve shirt wouldn’t be enough to keep out the cold, but they were determined to not put on their sweater that was neatly folded in the bottom of your pack. It was early fall on the surface, so just a long-sleeve shirt would be fine up there. You had only grabbed it so the three of you could go star gazing at some point. You also just realize it’s been over 3 days since you’ve fallen under the mountain, and that was how long you and Rosie told everyone that you were gonna spend on the mountain. You briefly wonder if they are getting worried about you, but you can’t focus on that now. You need to get to someplace where you can sleep for the night, and safely call Goa- Toriel. She did say something about a town being not far from the Ruins’ entrance. “Captain (Name) of the UNSC Artimis, come in please~” Rosie’s voice dragged you out of your thoughts. You see that Sans has wandered of after giving her a response, well you guess that's what happened while you were lost in thought. 

 

“Sorry, was just thinking about if anyone has started to worry about us. It has been over 3 days.”

 

“Hmmm. True. My brother might worry about us, but Nan won’t. She knows we have good heads on our shoulders. Your folks would trust Nan’s judgement, and I don’t think those cacti that call themselves Frisk’s parents would care.” She reasoned while walking along the path. Frisk had curled up in her arms and dozed off. Evidently it was very comfy, but they had this wonderful ability to fall asleep just about anywhere. 

 

“Heh, yeah. Your grandma is one fine lady.” 

 

“Aye, that she is. C’mon I have a feeling we have 3 puzzles at least left before we reach town.” She went forward and before you was a little bridge and beyond that was a large monochrome tiled board. And standing beyond that was Sans and Papyrus with a strange looking machine. 

 

“AH-HA! HUMANS!  YOUR GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES!? ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH... THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSABLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM... YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE, BUT... IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES! THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU. ALSO IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP.... SMELLS LIKE LEMONS! WHICH PIRANHAS DON’T LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OK! FINALLY, PINK TILES. THEY DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! WALK ON THEM AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE! HOW WAS THAT!? UNDERSTAND???” You look over at Rosie, who merely shrugged as best as she could with her arms full.

 

“Well, my hands are a little full at the moment. The electricity from the yellow tiles probably aren't that strong, if the maze from earlier is any indication. You’ll be fine.” She grinned. 

 

“Alright, Papyrus. I understood what you said.”

 

“GREAT! NOW THERE IS ONE LAST THING! THE PUZZLE IS ENTIRELY RANDOMLY!!!! WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION! NYEH HEH HEH!” He pushed a few buttons and the board came to life, flashing many colors like a disco floor as the tiles shuffled around. And then it stopped, a stripe of pink tiles down the middle and red on either side. Papyrus spun away without out a word, pushing Sans out of the way. 

 

“Welp. That was simple.” You walk across, with Rosie following. Sans waved you over. “Sup?”

 

“heya. actually that spaghetti from earlier... it wasn’t too bad for my brother. since he started cooking lessons, he’s been improving a lot. i bet if he keeps it up, next year he’ll even make something edible.”

 

“Is his cooking that bad?” Sans nodded and walked off after his brother. “I wonder what else they have planned for us. You want me to carry Frisk?”

 

“Nah, I’ve got them. They seem pretty tired after all that running around we did.” She smiled softly and carefully readjusted her hold on the small child. “Besides, you have the pack. I don’t wanna over burden you.”

 

“I carried both the pack and you, and you are heavier than Frisk.” You point out.

 

“I wasn’t going to make Frisk carry that heavy pack! They are only 11! They shouldn't be made to take that amount of weight till they are in middle school.” She nodded decisively and you roll your eyes.

 

“Rosie, please. You had at least 3 books PLUS a dictionary, and one that the grown-ups use not the children’s abridged version, as well as a sketchbook and pencils in the 3rd grade. And you threw hissy fits over people trying to take the dictionary from you. Literally! You hissed at them, with your tail puffed up!” 

 

“I don’t know what your talking about.” She stuck her nose in the air aloofly, “Anyway, I was-” She fell silent and stopped moving.

 

“Rosie? What’s the matter?” You stop as well and turn to look back at her.

 

“D-d-d-d-” Her eyes are wide and she raises a shaky arm and points towards Lesser Dog, who was building snow-dogs.

 

“Rosie.” You step in front of her. Frisk evidently could sense her fear and woke up and had wrapped themselves around her waist. You place your hands on the sides of her face, forcing her to look only at you. “That is Lesser Dog. He is a good dog. He doesn’t feel anything towards you other than love. Did he hurt you when we were in battle?”

 

“N-n-no.”

 

“Mhmm. All the dogs we have encountered down here so far, are really nice and mean you absolutely no harm. Yes, they have brought us into an encounter. But that's just because they are confused. They don’t know that we also mean them no harm, right? Right. I’ve seen that these dog monsters are different than those on the surface. So everything is alright.” Rosie seemed to have calmed down, enough so that she decided to be silly. 

 

“Blep!” She stuck the tip of her tongue out with a grin. For a moment you just stared at her, fighting to keep a straight face before the laughter came bubbling out. Frisk dropped to the ground and touched another shiny thing, and the three of you continued on your way. Rosie made sure to put you between her and Lesser Dog when you passed him. “Anywho, as I was saying. I was a special case. I always have had a thirst for knowledge, so you can’t use me as part of the rule. I’m part of the exception.”

 

“Oh sure.” You roll your eyes and start to walk backwards. “How many times did I have to hold you back from picking a fight with the older kids who were baiting you for your smarts.”  

 

“Ehhh, I lost count.” She shrugged and then her eyes widened with fright. “WATCH OUT!!”

 

Her warning came too late as you step backwards and you encounter ice, forcing you to slide in the direction you were going and right of the edge of the ledge.

 

“AHHHHHHH!!” You fall down and land in a large pile of snow.

 

“(Name)!!” Rosie ran down the slope towards you. Frisk was running beside her. “Oh my stars! Are you alright?”

 

“No, I’m all left.” You grin up at her. “The snow broke my fall, so no harm done.”

 

“This is no joking matter! You could have been seriously hurt!” You watch her tail puff up behind her, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. 

 

“I know, but do you honestly think that they would have actually dangerous puzzles? They want to keep us alive for when they take us to the Capitol, or whatever.” You chuckle as she whined. 

 

“(Name)! I'm serious!” Rosie stood up and offered you a hand up. 

 

“Hello Sirius, I'm (Name). C’mon, let's solve that switch puzzle and keep going.” You accept her help and look around the little area some more. You see a snowman shaped like Papyrus, that was in a heroic pose, and a large lump of snow next to it with SANS written in red. Frisk dashed up the slope ahead of you and waited at the top. 

 

**_“Can I solve this one too?”_ ** They signed, bouncing eagerly. 

 

“Sure, why not. You solved the other one with ease.” You shrug, re-adjusting the backpack. “Aren't you tired though? Just a short time ago you were sound asleep in Rosie's arms.”

 

**_“Her arms are really comfy! And warm.”_ ** They slide around the ice, hitting all of the switches and then stopped on the pressure plate. As they turned back to sign to you a bridge extended into a dense clump of trees. **_“You two can just slide over directly across from here.”_ ** After making sure you knew what to do, the child slide away. 

 

“Weeeeeeee~!!” Rosie slide across the ice and vanished into the tree.

 

_ :Well? Shall we keep going?: _

 

_ ‘Oh, hi there, Peanut. Glad to know that your back.’ _

 

_ :I never left, I told you this before. I'm stuck inside your head:  _ You get the impression of an eye roll from them. _ :Oh, and for your information, I am a girl. Now c’mon, they are waiting for us: _ You felt a faint shove on your back and you stumbled onto the ice and across through the trees. When you came out on the other side, you felt something cold on your head. Quickly you shook it off and realized that some snow had fallen on your head when you went through the trees.

 

“C’mon, (Name)!! I think we are nearly done~!!” Rosie waved you over. “Frisk found 30 G in.... what was it called again? Whatever. Let’s keep going!” 

 

“I have to ask. How are you so energetic? And for that matter, aren’t you cold? I know I’m feeling the cold.” The three of you walk past a really tiny dog house and a series of snow poofs.

 

“So would you say your...  _ chilled to the bone? _ ” She snickered as you playfully punched her in the arm. “You left yourself open for that one. And to answer your questions, it’s snow! I love the snow!! The crisp crunch under my sneakers, the nip in the air. It’s just so pure and untainted. As for how I’m not feeling the cold, well my hoodie really comfy.”

 

You sigh and look at the snow poof that blocks your path. “Whoa!!” A white dog popped out of the snow and then stood up. “That is a big dog... In armor.... Wielding a spear....” The world lost it’s color as the dog barked happily.

 

_ :It’s the Greater Dog:  _

 

You glance over at Rosie and see that she is choosing to ignore the dog. Frisk on the other hand was beckoning it, him?, towards them. You select the CHECK option in your ACT menu.

 

_ :Greater Dog 6 ATK 4 DEF. It’s so excited, it thinks fighting is just play:  _

 

_ ‘Joy.’ _

 

Greater Dog is torn between inching closer to Rosie or bounding over to Frisk, so it settles for somewhere in between flecking slobber over Frisk. You dodge almost all of the flying barks it sends your way, except for 2.

 

**10/20 HP**

 

Rosie despite her fright, seemed to have managed to dodge all of them, same with Frisk. “Ow...” 

 

_ :Greater Dog is watching all of you intently: _

 

Frisk closed the distance and pet the large dog on the head, it curled up in their lap as they pet it. It got so comfortable, it fell asleep for a moment. Then it wakes up, still super excited. Rosie continued to ignore him and for some reason you hit the PET option and you just pet the air. More barks came flying at all of you, which you somehow manage to dodge all of them.

 

_ :Greater Dog is patting the ground with its front paws: _

 

Both you and Frisk hit the PLAY option and make snowballs for it to chase happily. The snowballs just plop onto the ground.... Greater Dog picks up all the snow in the area and brings it to you. Now dog is very tired... It rests its head on Frisk. Spears spring up from the ground and come rushing towards you. First they were white and then they flashed blue, so you hold still. Rosie moved away, and got caught in the upper part of her arm, slicing through the sleeve of her hoodie and a bit of her flesh.

 

**35/40 HP**

 

“Oww.......” She quickly goes to cover the wound but you see the fur poking through the gaps in her fingers, you can’t tell what color it is due to you being in an Encounter. Blood trickles down the length of her arm and off her fingertips into the snow.

 

“Fur? Rosie, why is there fur?” While you question your friend on this new addition, Frisk pet the dog again and it sinks its weight into them. “Rosie?”

 

“It’s nothing... Ow...” Her eyes widen, and she leaps out of the way of some more flying barks. You on the other hand are not so lucky. “Nononono, you can’t die now!!” Rosie’s voice is muffled.

 

**0/20 HP**

 

The world went entirely black as you felt your Soul shatter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;D Don't you just hate me? Don't worry though :D


	8. Finally in Snowdin Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About time we made it to town. And Rosie changed? What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters seem to be getting longer and longer..... Oh well. And hey look! The new chapter is out less then a month then the last one!

You felt both heavy and light at the same time, kind of like you were drifting on the ocean tide. You open your eyes, but all you see is blackness. Blacker than black. You hear a cough from behind you and you turn around. Before you floated a young girl around the age of 8. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue and she wore a green tunic held in place with a white ribbon. Short blonde hair drifted about her, pushed and pulled by a breeze you couldn’t feel. Occasionally it would block her eyes and you noticed that her feet were bare. (You also realize that there is a faint dark blue glow around her.)

 

_ :Well then. That was a brilliant way to die:  _ The girl sighed and put her hands on her hips.  _ :By a freaking bark! Who knew: _

 

“....” You tried to talk, but nothing came out.

 

_ :Think what you want to say. Just like when your alive: _

 

_ ‘Peanut? Is that what you look like? And what do you mean “when your alive”? Once your dead, your dead.’ _

 

_ :Yup. This is who I am. And I mean just that. Right now you are in the Void, between worlds. And shortly time will rewind, and you will be alive once more. Ah, here we go: _

 

Frisk appeared out of nowhere and before them floated two golden buttons with text on them. One said RESET,  the other CONTINUE.

 

_ ‘Frisk? What’s going on?’ _

 

**_“I’m sorry, (Name). You won’t remember.”_ **

 

_ ‘Remember what? FRISK!’  _ The child slams their hand down on the continue button and white floods your vision. You blink away and your standing by the snow dogs that Lesser Dog was in the middle of building. “What? Why are we back here? Weren’t we here 5 minutes ago?”

 

“Back here? What do you mean? We just got here.” You turn to Rosie and see that she is wearing that robin-egg blue hoodie again, and no tail. She pulls out a vape tank from her hoodie’s pocket and sucks on it, blowing out a small cloud that smells faintly like strawberries.

 

“Huh?” You are thoroughly confused. The last thing you remember is Rosie getting hit and fur poking through the hole in her hoodie. And then you died. “Holy shrimp! I DIED!!” You freak out for a moment.

 

“Woah, woah! What? What are you talking about? Here, take a puff of my vape to help calm your nerves. Don’t worry, there is a very minor amount of nicotine in it.” She held out the small device, her  _ amethyst purple eyes _ filled with worry.

 

“Your- your eyes! They’re purple!” You accept it and do as she says, the vapor helping you calm from your little freak out. The taste of strawberries lingered in your mouth.

 

“Yup. You already knew this though. Seriously, are you ok? Your acting like this is the first time you saw them.”

 

“Rosie, I just died and have been brought back to life some how. I don’t remember how, when I try I get this headache.” You hand back the vape to her, slightly confused as to why she has one in the first place. She never had one before, at least when she had the tail. “Any way. Before I died, you had gotten hit right here,” you touch the spot, “And there was fur poking out on the edges.”

 

“Really now. You’ve seen me in a swimsuit. You know that I don’t have any fur. Unless you wanna count the light fuzz that is normal for humans.” She took another puff and tilted her head back and blew the smoke up into the sky. She smirked as she put it back into her pocket. “Don’t worry about death. Down here, it’s only a minor set back.”

 

“What?! A minor set back?!?! What is this? A video game?!”

 

Before she could respond Frisk came running over from the direction of this deer wearing an ‘ugly Christmas’ sweater.  **_“C’mon! We are almost done! Just one more puzzle and then we are at a place we can stay for the night.”_ ** They tugged impatiently on the sleeve of your dark green sweater.

 

“Alright. Alright.” The two of you follow them to the switch puzzle surrounded around by ice. “Wait, haven't we already solved this? But the bridge isn't extended.....” 

 

“Having a case of deja vu?” You can hear the grin in your friend’s voice. Frisk just skated around stepping on all of the switches and then the pressure plate, causing the bridge to extend once more.

 

“You be quiet.” You grumbled as you pulled off the backpack and kneel down to dig through it. 

 

“What are you looking for?”

 

“Had a thought. Ah ha!” You pull out the rainbow covered pencil box that you knew Rosie kept her little tool kit for her tail in. 

 

“Why did you want to pull out my vape box? Looking for a particular flavor of juice?” Confused by what she was saying you opened it and inside was several small bottles containing vape juices and a spare tank as well as a charger for the vape. “See? C’mon, I can see Friskers getting impatient.” 

 

_ ‘What the fudge?’  _ You put the box back into your backpack and slip it on once more. You watch Rosie slide gracefully across the ice and into the dense patch of trees.

 

_ :Huh. Guess I’m here too: _

 

_ ‘Peanut?! What’s going on?!’ _

 

_ :You don’t remember? Not surprised:  _ You get the impression of a shrug from her.  _ :Though I don’t blame you for not remembering fully, it was interesting: _

 

_ ‘Wait, what are you talking about? Remember what?’ _

 

Once again, Rosie unknowingly interrupts your conversation. “HEY, (NAME)!!! YOU COME OR WHAT?!”

 

“YEAH!” You slide across the ice, once more a bunch of snow falls onto your head when you pass through the trees. “So, what next?”

 

“Well, while you were doing whatever, Frisk found 30 G in.... What are these things called again? Ah, doesn’t matter. I can see the faint glow of a town over that way! We are nearly there!” Rosie skipped on ahead past the snow poofs. As she drew near the end Greater Dog emerged from the poof at the end. 

 

_ :It's the Greater Dog: _ The world has lost its color and your Soul pops out of your chest. Still dark blue and at full health. You look over at your friends and see that Frisk is the same, while Rosie.... Well her Soul was purple and she only had 20/20 HP. 

 

“Come here!” Both Rosie and Frisk beckoned the large dog to come closer, you select the CHECK option in your ACT menu.

 

_ :Greater Dog 6 ATK 4 DEF. It’s so excited, it thinks fighting is just play:  _

 

_ ‘So that’s still the same. Is it really just my friend who has changed?’ _

 

Greater Dog is torn between who to go towards, so it settles for somewhere in between flecking slobber over Frisk. You see an small dog sleeping and as soon as you take a step to one side, it wakes up sending those annoying flying barks in your direction. You dodge all but one.

 

**15/20 HP**

 

Both Rosie and Frisk have avoided getting hit. 

 

_ :Greater Dog is watching all of you intently: _

 

Frisk closed the distance and pet the large dog on the head, it curled up in their lap as they pet it. It got so comfortable, it fell asleep for a moment. Rosie crouched next to them, gently petting it. Then it wakes up, still super excited. And for some reason, AGAIN, you hit the PET option and you just pet the air. More barks came flying at all of you, which you somehow manage to dodge all of them.

 

_ :Greater Dog is patting the ground with its front paws: _

 

All three of you hit the PLAY option and make snowballs for it to chase happily. The snowballs just plop onto the ground.... Greater Dog picks up all the snow in the area and brings it to you. Now dog is very tired... It rests its head on Frisk. Spears spring up from the ground and come rushing towards you. First they were white and then they flashed blue, so you hold still. Rosie backpedals away from the white spear and when it switched she stopped.  _ :It needs to be pet some more: _ You shrug and PET the dog. It sinks all of its weight on Frisk as both of your friends also PET it some more. 

 

More color switching spears come flying at you and you all manage to avoid taking damage. You PET decisively and Greater Dog rolls off of Frisk and sticks its legs up in the air.  _ :Pet capacity is at 100%. You can now spare:  _ More barks come flying at you and you dodge them all, pressing the MERCY button as soon as possible. Color flooded the world as your SOULs returned to their respective places in your chests. 

 

Greater Dog jumped out of it’s armor and licked Frisk’s face. Then it jumped back in, butt in the air, and walked off. “Ok,” You turned towards Rosie and Frisk, “What’s next?”

 

**_“Well, I can see a bridge and at the far end I see Sans and Papyrus.”_ ** Frisk signed and then started walking along the same path that you had been going this whole time. Rosie puts her hands in the pocket of her hoodie and skips after the child. You sigh, still confused about what happened. You did die, didn’t you?

 

_ :Yup, by a flying bark. In retrospect it’s actually quite funny:  _ The girl giggled.

 

_ ‘Really helpful there, Peanut.... Really helpful.’ _

 

_ :It’s one of the reasons I’m here. To be helpful: _

 

_ ‘Wait. One of the reasons? What are the others?’ _

 

“OI! (NAME)! GET YER HEAD OUTTA THE CLOUDS!” Damn, that woman had a knack for interrupting mental conversations. It’s like she knew what you were talking about and had to stop information being spilled before it was needed.

 

“ALRIGHT!” You run to catch up, backpack bouncing slightly on your back. You skid to a stop at the end of the bridge. On the far side- which was quite a ways away - you could see Sans and Papyrus standing and beyond them you saw the cheery lights of a town. “Nearly to a place where we can stop for the night. And then in the morning we decide from there.”

 

“Don’t forget we promised to call Tori.” Rosie remarked.

 

“Right, kinda forgot about that with all the excitement.” The three of you walk along the bridge. First went Frisk, then Rosie, and then you. Below you and all around you could see the forest. “How many monsters do you think live out here? It’s much larger than one would expect to find under a mountain. Even the Ruins are huge.”

 

“Who knows. A few thousand I think. They have been down here for quite sometime. 320 something years I’m guessing.” Rosie shrugged and then stopped walking. “Speech time.” she muttered.

 

“HUMANS! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!” Papyrus makes a gesture with his hand and from above descended a VERY large spike ball, a spear, and a dog with a rope around its middle. From below rose a lit torch, another spear, and A FREAKING CANNON! “WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE!!! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN!!! ARE YOU READY!? BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!” 

 

_ ‘What the fuck? He’s not serious is he?’ _ The land was quiet, aside from the crackling of the fire from the torch and the creak of the rope that was on the dog. Papyrus turned his back to you.  _ ‘Maybe he just doesn’t want to see the slaughter that is about to happen, cuz there is no way we are gonna survive this.’ _

 

“well? what’s the hold up?” Sans turned to Papyrus, his ever-present grin somehow even larger.

 

“HOLD UP!? WHAT HOLD UP!? I’M.... I’M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!” He spun around again. Once again the only sound you heard was the fire and rope.

 

“that, uh, doesn’t look very activated.” 

 

“WELL!!! THIS CHALLENGE!!! IT SEEMS.....” Papyrus had a thoughtful look, “MAYBE.... TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMANS WITH. YEAH! WE CAN’T USE THIS ONE! I AM A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS!!! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!” And just like that, the gauntlet disappeared. He turned his back to you again! “PHEW!” Spinning around he snapped, “WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!? THIS WAS ANOTHER DECISIVE VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS!! NYEH! HEH! .... HEH???” He dashed off into town.

 

“Well then. That certainly was interesting. C’mon, Frisk. Yer blocking the path.” Rosie gently nudged the child forward and the three of you made your way along the rest of the bridge in silence. You glanced both up and down, but couldn’t see any sign of the strange contraption that was there moments before. Sans stood at the end, still grinning like a fool.

 

“i don’t know what my brother is going to do now. if i were you, i would make sure i understand  blue attacks .” He chuckled and then started to walk off after his brother. Again, Peanut seemed to color the key words.

 

“Hey Sans? Got a quick question for you.” He stops and turns towards you.

 

“might have an answer.”

 

“What color was Rosie’s hoodie when we met for the first time at the bridge?”

 

“Really? You know I only have this blue hoodie.” You could see from the corner of your eye Rosie pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

“it was blue, same as it is right now. why are you asking me?”

 

“It’s just something happened... And before the thing happened Rosie had a gold hoodie and a tail, and after it happened the hoodie was blue and the tail was non-existent.”

 

“and what makes you think i know anything about it?” Sans raised an eyebrow, eye bone? 

 

“Well, you did say that you were going to keep an eye, or rather an eye socket, on us.”

 

Rosie sighed. “I swear, there must have been a small rock in that snowball. You are talking some crazy talk there. Maybe after you get some rest, you can start making sense. This isn’t the first time you thought I had a tail. Sans, do you know of a place where we can sleep for the night? I think the combination of the snowball and all this cold has gone to their head, I’m afraid.”

 

“What!? I’m perfectly healthy!” You started to protest, but she put a finger to your lips.

 

“Shhh. No more talking.”

 

“yeah, there is the inn. it’s the second building you see in town, right next door to the shop.” 

 

“Thank you, Sans. C’mon, (Name). We got a bed to lay claim to, and then we can call Mama. You can ask her what color hoodie I was wearing, if that will help your confusion.” She grabbed your hand and tugged you along. You get the feeling that if this was the gold Rosie that her tail would be wagging happily. On she dragged you, passed the large banner saying “WELCOME TO SNOWDIN” and surrounded by Christmas lights. Almost all of the buildings you could see had those light strands running along the eaves. The first two buildings were labeled “Store” and “Inn” ad in between them sat another one of those boxes. Frisk opened the door after touching something shiny by the box and your friend dragged you up to the counter.

 

“Welcome to Snowdin Inn! Snowdin’s premier hotel! One night is 80G!” The small female bunny behind the counter chirped happily.

 

“Great!” Rosie pulled out a pouch of coins and placed them on the counter and the bunny handed her the key. Still having not let go of your arm, she pulled you up the stairs and unlocked the room.

 

The room was of moderate size, but there was only one bed. It looked to be large enough to hold all 3 of you comfortably. You set down your pack, then sat down and pulled out your phone, opening up the contacts. The first in the list was Rosie, her image was a golden rose. Then your parents, and finally Frisk and then Toriel. After that was other friends that you don’t really care about at this point in time. You select Tori’s number and flop back onto the bed, listening to it ring.

 

“Hello? This is Toriel.” Her sweet, motherly voice answered the phone.

 

“Hey there, Toriel. It’s (Name). I’m calling just like we promised. We have reached the town and are at the Inn. It’s amazing out here. Did you know it’s like a never ending winter out here?”

 

“Why, yes. I did know that. I did tell you that it was snowy out there. Oh! Have you met my friend yet? He is a nice sounding guy, and is rather.....  _ Punny _ if I do say so.” She chuckled.

 

“Yeah, I think we’ve met him. He’s a really interesting guy.”

 

“Hey, (Name)?” Rosie spoke up.

 

“Yeah, Rosie?” You sit up and look over at your friend.

 

“Frisk and I smell cinnamon buns, and we are going to go find the source and maybe see if we can get some. Want us to bring you one?” She looked excited.

 

“Sure, you two have fun. Sorry about that, Tori.” You return to your conversation with the goat woman. “Frisk and Rosie went off in search of food.”

 

“Ah, I see. I hope you 3 are in good health.”

 

“Yeah, we are. Oh, quick couple of questions for you, though it may seem strange to you.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“What color was Rosie’s hoodie when we left and did she have a tail?”

 

“Blue and no. I thought humans didn’t have tails. Why do you ask? Is everything alright?” Concern was clear in her voice.

 

“Yeah, everything is fine. I just thought I saw something. Maybe it was just a dream....”

 

“We’re back~!” Rosie sang as she opened the door and in wafted the delicious scent of cinnamon buns.

 

“That was fast.” 

 

“The rolls were right next door. The sister of the bunny that runs the inn runs the store.”

 

“Rosie, wanna speak to Tori?” You held out your phone to her.

 

“Sure. Here is your bunny.” She handed you a cinnamon roll that looked like a bunny, the source of the smell for the phone and then walked off. “Hiya, Mama~ ..... Yeah, I’m doing just great!”

 

“Frisk, I have to ask you as well. Did Rosie change between Greater Dog fights? I have this feeling that you know.” You ask the small child while Rosie is distracted.

 

**_“No. We only encountered Greater Dog once. Why do you think we encountered him twice?”_ **

 

“I.... I don’t know.... Maybe it was just a strong deja vu case...” You munch on the cinnamon roll, and begin to feel better. “Yeah, that must be it. I dreamed that my friend had a tail and we were here.”

 

“I told you earlier that I only have a tail when I’m cosplaying. And here’s your phone back. Tori heard something and had to go investigate.” Rosie handed your phone back to you and you slip it into a pocket. “So what’s the plan now? Explore the town? See what else the Underground has to offer? Return to the Ruins?”

 

**_“I’m curious about waterfall.”_ ** Frisk bounced up and down excitedly. 

 

“Sounds good to me. Let’s get some sleep and go exploring when we wake up.”

 

“I call the foot of the bed!” Rosie launched herself onto the bed and bounced a couple of times, giggling. She then rolled herself into a ball and pulled her hoodie over her knees.

 

“You know there is enough blanket for all of us. And we did pack a blanket. Remember we had wanted to go stargazing?”

 

“Oh yeah....” She rolled off the bed and with a soft ‘ow’ when she hit the floor went to pull out the blanket from your pack.

  
You just sigh at her silly antics. Frisk scrambles onto the bed and you follow, pulling back the blankets and getting in. You grab your phone and set an alarm, noting with surprise that your battery life is at full. “Good night, Rosie. Good night, Frisk.” With the sounds of their responses, you turned off the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My, my oh my. =)


	9. A Sans-ational Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A full chapter just from Sans' Point of View :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories, plot and some history of this word :D this ain't a filler chapter folks!

As Sans watched your group go on after his word scramble, he stepped through the Void to the clump of trees near the map where he saw the encounter with Lesser Dog. He observed Rosie freeze up again and once again you snapped her out of it. Then he watched as she walked off towards the Nice Cream stand. Figuring that she was a greater threat than you or Frisk, he followed her; staying in the shadows. There was also the fact that he guessed that Frisk wouldn't do anything murdery with someone around. 

 

Rosie stopped in front of the spaghetti trap that Papyrus set, and cocked her head to one side apparently listening to something. Sans decided to take a gamble. He teleported behind her. “so, chara.  why the tailed human?” Sans’ eyes were like twin black holes, no sign of his eye lights. His grin was strained as he felt the LOVE that the person, no he couldn't call that being a person, radiating off her. He was surprised when she started laughing and turned to face him.

 

“Pfft. You actually think that I am Chara? That's hilarious. I'm actually not that undead child. They are still with Friskers. And I’m sure they both are very confused by me being here.” She shrugged, her hands remained buried in her golden hoodie, green eyes sparkling with amusement. 

 

“then who are you? humans don’t have tails.”

 

“As (Name) said when we met, the name is Rosie. And true, humans don’t. So, which  _ tail _ do you want?” She snickered at her pun as her tail swished softly.

 

“the truth would be nice.” But he had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn’t give the whole truth.

 

“A’right. The press release it is. Let's see here. I’m 21 now, the accident happened when I was 8. I was in the car with my best friend on my way home after a sleepover, and a drunk driver hit the car. I was the only survivor, alive but not unharmed. I was paralyzed from the waist down. I couldn't feel my legs. A family friend was in the experimental stages of cybernetics and he offered to connect the undamaged nerves so I could walk again. My parents agreed and before I underwent the procedure, I was told that when I woke I would have a tail and he asked me what type of tail I wanted, so I chose a fox. And as promised when I woke I had a fox tail. And that is why I, a human, have a functional tail. I can use it like a third hand if I really need to, but I couldn't hang from it like a monkey.”

 

“ok, then explain how you knew about the undernet? i never told the old lady about that.”

 

“Uhhhh,” she looked nervous for a moment. “I made an educated guess based on some of the history books that I read about the underground and the naming practices. Home, now called the Ruins, Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland, New Home. It's a simple pattern.” Rosie grinned. 

 

“alright, i’ll accept that excuse but can you explain how you knew Chara, the fact they aren't alive and that they’ve possessed frisk?” Sans’ own grin grew, there was no way that she could explain that away so easily. 

 

“Funny story about that. Frisk can talk, and sometimes when they think they are alone, they hold one sided conversations about how they are going to help Chara to move on. Ghosts like to cling to people that are close to their age when they died, and I always categorize ghosts in the undead field of beings.” She smirked. 

 

Sans narrowed his eye sockets, this thing had an explanation or excuse for everything he threw at her. So he decided to pull her into an encounter, knowing that he could dodge any attack she might throw at him. The world lost its color and her green soul popped out. The first thing he did was CHECK her Soul. 

 

Rosie McKay

HP: 40/40

ATK: 40

DF: 35

LV: 10

 

**_*A kind l͔̟̥̲͙͋ͪͣ̓̿̋̚a͍̔d̀͊ͬÿ̻̪̯̦́ͤ̓ͭ̏̅̚ͅ who will defend whom ever s̞̻̱͔͍̯̞h̖e͐ͨͪͪ̀͂ feels is family. T̸here̶ ͠is m̵o͠rȩ t͟o̶ ͝t͜h͡is ̵person t̛he͠n wh̷a͠t mee͏ts ̶the e̸y̧e_ **

 

He was some what surprised to see the pronouns couldn't make up their mind, flipping between female, male, and neutral and not always matching each other. 

 

“Didjaya have ta Encounter me? Ya don't like the answers I'm givin’ ya? Well, I ain't changing ‘em. And besides, a girl has to have a few proverbial skeletons in the closet.” She was still grinning. “Also, I ain't gonna attack ya. Don't want to accidentally dust you. Unless ya wanna dance~”

 

**_*Rosie is sparing you_ **

 

“i got another question for ya, girl. how does someone who is 21 have a LOVE of 10? ya can't reach that high by accident.” Sans ACTed. 

 

“Heh. True. Would you believe me if I told ya that I was a child soldier? That’s was how my Level of Violence grew so high? A child killing on the orders of the adults. Nobody suspects a child assassin. I haven’t killed any monster. You’ve been watching us since we left the Ruins, and you can ask the old lady in the Ruins if she has found any Dust piles.”

 

**_*Rosie is still sparing you_ **

 

“nope, i don't believe you.” He threw a couple bones at her, which she dodged but a few caught her by surprise.

 

**35/40 HP**

 

“Ow...” She whimpered. “Ya really wanna dance? I don't wanna fight ya. C’mon, Sansy. I swear on my green Soul and anything else you want me to swear on that I have no ill will towards monsters.” 

 

**_*Rosie insists sparing you_ **

 

“i don't trust you.” Another series of bones flew at her. 

 

“Stars above and below, Sans! Do you actually WANT me to fight you?!?! Because I will if you insist, even though I don't want to. I know that it would only take one hit to end your life. Even with putting no ill intent behind it.” Tails protested. 

 

**30/40 HP**

 

“fine, but i’ll be watching.” Sans spares her, returning both color to the world and her Soul to her chest. “if i find that you have killed monsters i  _ will  _ bring you to justice.”

 

“Fine by me. As my little blurb said, I will protect my family. I care about Frisk and (Name) a great deal, so if you hurt them in any way....” Her grin grew wider and a bit more sinister as her eyes shifted to that black/gold combo again, “ **Well,** **your really not gonna have the best of times.** ” Rosie’s voice was dark and echo-y, similar to how he does it when the kid is on a killing spree. And another memory painfully made itself known.

 

_ Before him was the streets of New Home, but he couldn't see much as he was hiding behind someone who was wearing blue jean shorts and the uncovered part of their legs were dark grey fur. Glancing up, Sans saw a gold hoodie and he felt a tail wrap itself around him protectively. Looking to his right he saw other tail was wrapped around a very young Papyrus. In front of the three of them stood an edgy looking dog monster.  _

 

_ “C’mon little girl, I just wanna play with them.” The dog said playfully, “They look so... delicious. I could eat them right up.” The monster licked her jaws and the girl above him snarled, her tail tightened its hold around him. Sans felt that if his protector wished, she could easily pick up both he and his brother and run away with ease. _

 

_ “Over my dust, bitch. Touch my brothers  _ **_and your really not gonna have the best of times._ ** _ ” She growled, and a couple of dark blue/purple fireballs flickered to life and floated around her head. The dog visibly quaked with fear and turned around and fled with her tails between her legs. The girl relaxed her pose and her tails. “You two ok?” She turned around and knelt down. The shadows cast by the fireballs covered her face, but he knew that she was smiling. (He didn’t quite understand how fire could have a shadow, but he wrote it off as magic.) _

 

_ “THAT WAS SO COOL, SISTER!!” Papyrus jumped up and wrapped his arms around her neck. “YOU MADE THAT MONSTER LEAVE US ALONE WITHOUT HAVING TO DO A VIOLENCE!” _

 

_ “‘Course I did. I had the Great Papyrus and the Magnificent Sans at my back, so I knew I could do anything. C’mon, Dad sent me a text earlier saying that his work at the lab was finished and he was gonna make us dinner.” _

 

The memory faded as he watched the girl scoop up them both in her arms and walk off. “what just happened? i don't recall that happening before....” 

 

“I can hear that my friends are working on the switch puzzle that Papyrus shifted around.” She seemed to ignore what he said. Those orange ears from earlier had shown up again and were twitching.

 

“well, pal. that is a ways off. but i know a shortcut. that is if you trust me.” He held out his hand. He knew he was taking a risk, even though she had sworn on her Soul that she meant no harm. He also figured that he could ask her more questions later, once you and Frisk had gone to sleep.

 

“Yup. I trust you completely. Despite the fact that you threatened me and actually brought me into an Encounter.” Tail took his hand with a grin. 

 

“don't let go.” With those final words he brought the two of them to the other side of the spikes that separated the Papyrus shaped puzzle from the rest of the Underground. 

 

********

 

Your fight with Greater Dog was not going well. Sans could tell that right from the start. Rosie was a statue, you were confused and Frisk was doing their best to spare the dog as fast as possible. And then he saw Tail get hit by a spear, leaving a large gash on her arm. Fur poked out the edges of the hole in her hoodie and blood dripped down her arm. He saw shock on all of your faces at the sight of the fur. She quickly tried to cover it with her hand, but a few strands were determined to show. He saw you turn to question your friend over this new development but then were caught by a flying bark. You collapsed and your Soul shook and then shattered. 

 

“Nonononono! Damn it! I should have known! I knew (Name) was low on health, I should have intercepted it, instead of standing there like a fool.” She ran her hands through her hair, evidently not caring that she was also soaking it with blood. She also ignored GD. “Frisk, ya gotta do yer thing. Ya gotta LOAD. Turn back the clock.”

 

**_“How do you know?”_ ** Frisk signed, letting the spear hit them.

 

**15/20 HP**

 

“It’s a long story, kiddo.” Gold sighed, and ignored GD again. The barks came flying at the two of them again.

 

**0/20 HP**

 

Frisk collapsed into the snow and their Soul shattered. Tails sighed again. “Stars, it always pains me to see the kid fall. Hope I don’t have to see it too many more times.” She chuckled sadly as the world went white around everyone, turning the clock back to the last SAVE point.

 

Sans stood in the shadows of the trees watching. You were standing next to Lesser Dog’s outpost, watching it build snow dogs. Gold was once again Blue and she had a lazy grin and had a strange rectangle with a strange nozzle at one end in her hand. She put the nozzle in her mouth and breathed in, and after removing blew out a cloud of smoke. The breeze caught the cloud and sent it towards him, a sweet scent permeated the air. He saw you freak out over the fact that you had died, and then Blue calmed you down with the strange box. 

 

He found it interesting that Blue wasn’t afraid of Lesser Dog like she was when she was Gold. That was one of the differences that he noticed. There was the fact that Blue didn’t have a tail, was much more calm, and from your startled reaction: had purple eyes. Then there was the bit were he didn’t feel any LOVE coming from her. She felt similar to you and Frisk. Very interesting. He wondered what caused the change from Gold to Blue. Something must have happened when Frisk LOADed their save to revive you.

 

Your party had made it to the ice covered switch puzzle again, and you were digging into your backpack for some reason. 

 

“Why do you want my vape box?” He heard Blue ask you. You looked confused and opened the pencil box, evidently surprised by what you found inside. Frisk solved the puzzle and you went on and then encountered Greater Dog again. He was surprised to see that Blue’s Soul was Purple, and not Green. He also noticed that Blue had a lower HP value. This time the fight went better and you managed to spare the dog. Frisk started to head to the bridge, so Sans quickly stepped through the Void to his place.

 

The scene played out like normal, the gauntlet wasn’t activated and was sent away, with Papyrus dashing off again. Sans started to follow him but stopped when you spoke.

 

“Hey Sans? Got a quick question for you.” 

 

“might have an answer.” He turned towards you, curious about what you might ask.

 

“What color was Rosie’s hoodie when we met for the first time at the bridge?”

 

“Really? You know I only have this blue hoodie.” He saw Blue pinching the bridge of her nose.

 

“it was blue, same as it is right now. why are you asking me?”  _ ‘Why did I say blue? I was going to say gold...’ _

 

“It’s just something happened... And before the thing happened Rosie had a gold hoodie and a tail, and after it happened the hoodie was blue and the tail was non-existent.” You seemed hesitant to talk about your own death, not that you knew that he knew about it.

 

“and what makes you think i know anything about it?” Sans raised his eye bone. 

 

“Well, you did say that you were going to keep an eye, or rather an eye socket, on us.”

 

Rosie sighed, rolling her eyes upwards. “I swear, there must have been a small rock in that snowball. You are talking some crazy talk there. Maybe after you get some rest, you can start making sense. This isn’t the first time you thought I had a tail. Sans, do you know of a place where we can sleep for the night? I think the combination of the snowball and all this cold has gone to their head, I’m afraid.”

 

“What!? I’m perfectly healthy!” You started to protest, but she put a finger to your lips.

 

“Shhh. No more talking.”

 

“yeah, there is the inn. it’s the second building you see in town, right next door to the shop.” He directed her.

 

“Thank you, Sans. C’mon, (Name). We got a bed to lay claim to, and then we can call... ” Blue’s words faded away as she dragged you away.

 

Only once your party had entered the Inn, after Frisk touched their SAVE point, did he teleport to his room. “ok. seriously. why did i say blue? i was going to say gold, which would have been the truth. something isn’t right with that girl. i have never seen a Soul change colors, and STATS don’t change like that in a given timeline. they don’t  _ shrink.”  _ He muttered to himself.

 

_ *Well, maybe because it ain’t the same Soul?*  _ Sans suddenly heard a voice. Nobody had access to his room, aside from Frisk and he knew that they were at the Inn. Papyrus was in the kitchen, cooking spaghetti for dinner.

 

“what. who is there?!” He looked around frantically.

 

_ *That would be me. I’m inside your head.*  _ The voice sounded male, and in his early teens. _ *13 to be exact. But that was my age at my death.* _

 

“just who are you? and how did you get there? and what do you mean by death?”

 

_ *So many questions. Shouldn’t be surprised though, you are a scientist. The name is Owen, as for how..... Well it’s not really my story, to tell it means to tell the story of several others. And death, well that is an easy one. I am dead. Or rather, I was. But I’m not a ghost, if that’s what your wondering. I’m different.* _

 

“ok..... so what do you know about rosie?”

 

_ *Everything. Well, everything up to about 8 years ago. And that is normal time, not counting the month or so that’s been RESETTING and LOADING. But I ain’t telling ya much more than what I’ve already said. I’ll let them do the talking.* _ Sans got the impression of a smug grin from Owen.

 

“alright, so how long have you been.... dead? and i’m guessing your human, cuz monsters don’t stick around.”

 

_ *Yup. I am a human. As for length of death.... I celebrated my 300th deathday 2 years ago.* _

 

“deathday? and you’ve been dead for 302 years?! just how long can a human last after death?!”

 

_ *Yeah, deathday. It’s like a birthday, except it’s the day you die. That actually is a question I can answer. Technically a human is dead about a day after their heart stops beating. Their Soul, well... it depends on the strength of it.The Soul usually departs or shatters once the brain has died, which is at that one day mark. A strong Soul will stick around for about a year before finally shattering. Death has always been interesting to me. And bloody hell, I sound like Pippa now.... I wonder how she’s feeling right now... Seeing as she has experienced death a few times now.* _ Owen fell silent.

 

“just how did you die, if you don’t mind me asking.”

 

_ *Don’t mind at all. Monsters thought it would be a good idea to have a couple 2v2 fights and my sister and I were the first to go up. She died first, I killed the monster that killed her and then their teammate killed me.* _

 

“monsters as in the species, or cruel humans?”

 

_ *The species. At first I hated you guys for capturing a bunch of humans and forcing them to fight, but after I died and things happened, I honestly can’t blame you for doing so.* _

 

“i don’t recall anything like that. there has only been 7 humans in the underground, and they fell. and that’s not counting these three.”

 

_ *Well, it WAS over 300 years ago when this happened. And monsters have only been underground for 286 years.* _

 

“oh.” Sans fell silent, pondering this new found information. “hey, owen? how long have you been with me?”

 

_ *15 minutes less then you’ve been alive. I think. I know for sure it was less than an hour after your birth.* _

 

“you’ve been with me... my whole life?!? how come i’ve never heard you before now?! or sensed you for that matter?” Sans was shocked to find this out.

 

_ *Not your whole life, like I said. I joined you after you were born. As for your other questions, I was ‘asleep’ so to speak, and you can’t sense something that is a part of you.* _

 

“wait a moment.” Sans did some quick math in his head, “you died before the war?”

 

_ *Yup. Long before. Well, only 17 years prior to the war. That was a bitch to watch. Monsters didn’t deserve to be shoved under a mountain and forgotten! Those damn Clerics and their stupid beliefs! I swear, if I could’ve done something it would have been THEM that got put under the mountain! And honestly, it wasn’t a war. It was a massacre. War means that there was death on both sides. Though... no, deaths that occurred afterwards don’t count. I don’t think. History is written funny. Did you know that monsters and other magical beings are completely fictional? Even though the beings are still out there doing their thing.* _

 

“huh. why have i never heard of these ‘beings’ before?”

 

_ *Simple. They prefered to be in the background, doing their own thing. Also stealthily interacting with humans. Both mischief and helpfulness, it depended on the humans.*  _ Sans got the impression of a shrug from Owen.

 

“really now. so, earlier you said that a strong soul would last a year, while a weak one would shatter. what’s the difference? also, how do you know about the resets?”

 

The impression of an eye roll,  _ *I know about the RESETS because you know about them, duh. And the difference is the amount of DT they have. And obviously I’m not talking about the trait, like what Frisk has. But the natural stuff varies from person to person. It’s actually how humans use to be able to use magic. The DT fueled what they wanted to cast, while the actual energy came from the environment. I say use to because when monsters disappeared, the magic in the world just drained away as it got used up. Granted there are some humans out there that can tap into the magic that the Earth puts out, but those are far and few between. So I guess you could say that monsters don’t have to worry about the magi. They don’t have what it takes to use that sealing spell a third time.* _

 

“a third time? what do -” Before Sans could finish his question, Papyrus called him down for dinner. “coming, paps.” He short cutted to the kitchen just in time to see Papyrus dump a full tube of glitter into the pot.  _ ‘oh stars....’ _

 

_ *D: GLITTER?!?*  _ Sans could hear the disgust in Owen’s voice.  _ *Oh, you can just think what you want to say to me, by the way. Less of a chance to have people think your crazy.* _

 

_ ‘great. and yes he uses glitter. i have yet to managed to convince him not to. so, how did i see that emoji?’ _

 

Papyrus placed the plate in front of him. “COME SANS! TOMORROW WE SHALL -” The small white dog that Paps called ‘Annoying Dog’ dashed across the table and knocked all the spaghetti onto the floor. “GASP! GET BACK HERE YOU BLASTED CANINE!!!” He chased the dog around in circles and Sans chuckled.

 

_ *That is honestly adorable. Reminds me of a moment with my sister where a chicken had managed to get into the hut and our cat was chasing it around the fire place and then Ula was chasing both of them. It was highly amusing.*  _ Owen completely ignored his last question.

 

“SANS! LOOK! IT’S THE BLUE HUMAN!” Papyrus pointed out the window. Sans looked and indeed there was Blue walking along. “I WONDER WHERE THE GREEN HUMAN AND THE SMALL HUMAN ARE?”

 

“i’ll go see what they are up to, bro.” Before Paps could say anything Sans teleported behind Blue. “so, what are you doing out so late?”

 

“Couldn’t sleep.” She spun around and started walking backwards. “(Name) and Frisk passed out, but I had a lot on my mind, so I decided to go for a walk.”

 

“mind answering a few questions for me?”

 

“Not at all. Ask away.”

 

“who are you, really?”

 

She chuckled, purple eyes sparkling. “This again? My name is Rosie.”

 

“no, your not. you are someone else. your STATS are different.”

 

She rolled her eyes. They had reached the edge of town. All of the other monsters had already gone to bed.  “Nope. STATS are the same as when I fell.”

 

Not satisfied with what she was saying, he drew her into an encounter. A purple Soul popped out of her chest. He CHECKED her Soul.

 

Nola McKay

HP: 20/20

ATK: 10

DF: 20

LV: 1

 

“so,  _ nola. _ what happened to rosie?”

 

“C’mon, did ya have to encounter me just to check my STATs? Heh, guess a CHECK tells the truth.” She shrugged. “The answer is nothing. My sister is still here.” She tapped the side of her head with a finger. “Just sleeping. You could say our relationship right now is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Where she is Mr. Hyde and I am the good doctor. You’ve seen her STATS.”

 

“why not tell your friend?”

 

“And let them think that they are further insane then they already think? No thank you. I’d much rather have them focus on surviving down here and not my oddities.”

 

“wait, if you share the same body, why does your hoodie change and the tail disappear and that weird box thing?”

 

“So many questions! Makes sense though, you are a scientist. My hoodie is sensitive to our Souls. Who is in control determines the color. The ‘weird box thing’ as you so call it, is a vape. It’s an alternative to smoking cigarettes or joints. I use it to numb the pain. As for the tail, in this version, the accident only knocked a few disks out of alignment, therefore causing me pain that I smoke away.” Blue shrugged and pulled out her vape and smoked, blowing that sweet scented cloud his way as she tapped the mercy button.

 

**_*Nola is sparing you_ **

 

“what do you mean, ‘sensitive’? it’s just cloth isn’t it?” Sans also hit the spare button, returning the world to it’s rightful colors.

 

“Ehh, there was a bit of magic in its creation. It was white when we got it and then when we put it on, for Rosie it shifted to that brilliant gold, and for me it’s a robin egg blue. It’s just one color off of our actual Soul colors, which you can see by our eye color. Humanity has a saying that the eyes were windows to the Soul, and for most people it actually isn’t true. Only emotion, not color is shown. But those that don’t shield who they are, their eyes show their Soul color. Oh, and I’d appreciate it if (Name) and Frisk are around, you keep calling me Rosie. Don’t want to confuse them. Well, I’d best be getting back to them. See ya later, Sansy.” She waved and walked back to the inn, humming quietly. For some reason, the tune she was humming was familiar.

 

_ ‘hey, owen?’ _

 

_ *Yo?* _

 

_ ‘if you’ve been with me nearly my whole life, do you know who that girl is? The one that showed up in those “new” memories that i remembered today.’ _

 

_ *Yeps. She’s yer sister. By adoption, mind ya, not by blood.* _

 

_ ‘but, it’s always been just me and paps....’ _

 

_ *Nope, sorry boyo. Ya got more family than ya think.* _

 

_ ‘what do you mean?’ _

 

_ *Well, for starters, you got me and by extension my sister. Then of course there is Papyrus. And your sister and your dad. You don’t really have a mom, skeletons are weird like that. Then you also have a niece, nephew, two grand-nibling and a grand-nephew.* _

 

_ ‘nibling? and how do i have a niece?’ _

 

_ *Well  _ **_obviously_ ** _ not because of Papyrus. So it falls to your sister. And a nibling is the gender-neutral term for a niece/nephew.* _

 

_ ‘how much older is my sister?’ _

 

_ *Eh.... I don’t know.* _ Sans got the sneaking suspicion that Owen did in fact know the answer. 

 

_ ‘would you happen to know the names of these relations?’ _

 

_ *Ummmmm. Dat would be spoiler. But they do exist, I assure you! You’ve actually met your niece and nephew before as well as your grand-niblings. It’s funny cuz your niblings are adopted by your niece and nephew. And they are only related to you because your sister was adopted.*  _ Owen chuckled. 

 

_ ‘so, what caused you to wake up now of all times? you weren’t awake in the other timelines.’ _

 

_ *There wasn’t the right trigger. This time, my old host is here, with the tiny bit of me that bled over to them.* _

 

_ ‘what do you mean ‘bled over’?’  _ Sans warped back to his room.  _ ‘and host? sounds like you were a parasite.’ _

  
_*You honestly think being part of someone for 250+ years isn’t gonna have any side effects? And no, I wasn’t a parasite. It was a symbiotic relationship. Or something like that..... They are totes cool with us calling them our host though. Like someone hosts parties or get togethers and the like. Or sleep-overs. I guess it was kinda like a foreign exchange student and they were our host family while we were dead until they could find a way for us to really live again and be useful. Aaaaaaaaand I’m rambling, so I’m gonna stop that babble train right there and getting off at sleepytime junction. G’night!*_ Sans blinked for a moment as he felt a wall being thrown up in his mind. He shrugged and flopped down on his mattress, fully set for another night of nightmares. Closing his eyes, sleep came quickly and surprisingly was peaceful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmmm =)


	10. Papyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're back to Reader and we see the rest of Snowdin (aside from the path up to the Riverperson's dock)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! I swear!!
> 
> I give up about keeping with canon fight dialog any more. Methods will stay the same, but turns taken/descriptors between turns will be somewhat the same, others different. But I've already done that with the dogi..... oh well, it's just official now... On with the show!!

_ +*Are you sure this plan will work?*+  _ Two beings are standing in a dark room, who they are and what they were, was hard to tell. The first being’s voice was male, crackly, and had a faint background of static.

 

“Sure it will. It worked for them. I'm sure it will work for you three as well.” The second being’s voice was hard to tell what gender they were but it was clear, and seemed to come from all around.

 

_ +*Child-*+ _

 

“You know I'm older than you by a long shot, even if I choose to look younger.” The second person interrupted the first. 

 

_ +*Ah, forgive me. I tend to forget that after having raised you in a sense for seven years. I don't understand why you hid the truth. Still, are you sure it will work? I have been here for so long.  And so have the others. Not to mention these are human Souls we are talking about. Only a monster can absorb a human Soul.*+ _

 

“Look, if it worked to save them, I'm sure it will work for you. Besides these Souls  _ want _ to help. They  _ want _ to give you guys a second chance. To actually see the surface. To actually live again. Remember, these are children.” They paused for a moment. “Well, except for Det. He's an adult.Technically. But still. Their lives were cut short, and living through me isn’t the best option. I’m too much of a terrible influence, my nature just isn’t right for humans. Shards, just by having them with me for as long as I have, it’s lessened the ‘human’ bit of their Souls. That’s how my friend and Int could mesh. You know the rules: A pure human Soul can only absorb a Boss Monster’s Soul, an  _ impure  _ human Soul, or another being’s Soul that is on the same plane as the rest of the Souls. The opposite is true for Monsters. A Monster can absorb a human Soul, an impure monster Soul, or again another being’s Soul. Then, of course, there is the other beings who can take whatever Soul they want.”

 

_ +*Same plane? What do you mean?*+ _

 

“Oh for the-, you know what I mean.” They sighed and explained, “Some beings either don’t have a Soul, or it is kept in a different form or place. Like me for example. If I were to pass away, no being can take my Soul. It would just pass on to another one of my kind. But, if I wanted to, I could  _ possess  _ others and make them do stuff they normally wouldn’t do. No Soul absorption needed, both of us would live..... Unless the goal was for them to off themselves, but if that was the case I have at least half a dozen other ways to do it.”

 

_ +*You would get someone to kill themselves? Why?*+ _

 

“Could be a number of reasons ranging from petty to revenge. Or I would just find it funny.” There was silence for a moment. “Does LOVE even come into play when it’s a mercy kill? Or assisted suicide? Or what if they were lead somewhere, and died due to the environment, does that still count? I guess it depends on your viewpoints. But to be honest with you, me killing things for giggles is like a 1 in a zillion chance. I usually have a reason. Though I guess you could say that giggles is a valid reason, but that's not the point.” They mused for a bit.

 

_ +*Still...*+ _

 

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, bud. This plan won’t fail. ‘Sides,” they shrugged, “it wasn’t really me who came up with it. I’m just following orders.”

 

_ +*Who’s orders?*+ _

 

“Spoilers, sweetie~” They sang. “Welp, time to get back. They’re about to wake up. See ya later.” And then they were gone leaving the first being alone in the room, surrounded by a dark, darker yet darker still blackness. 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

You awaken to Frisk jumping on your stomach. “Oooof! Kid! I’m awake!” You sit up, and with a yawn, stretch. “Where is Rosie?” You looked around and saw no sign of your friend. Even the blanket she used was folded up at the foot of the bed.

 

“Right here.” Rosie walked through the door, carrying some more of those rabbit shaped cinnamon rolls.

 

**_“Breakfast!! Thanks, Rosie!”_ ** Frisk signed hurriedly before snatching one from her hands.

 

Rosie laughed as they scarfed it down, “Slow down, munchkin! You don’t want to choke on them!” She handed one to you as she munched on the other.

 

**_“Rosie, it’s monster food. It gets converted IMMEDIATELY into energy as soon as it’s swallowed so there is no fear of choking. And about having to go to the bathroom.”_ ** They said, licking sticky frosting off their fingers in between words.

 

_ :They are right, you know. Monsters infuse their food with magic, so it’s easy to recover from injuries: _

 

_ ‘Good morning, Peanut. Sleep well?’  _ You start to eat your cinna-bunny.

 

_ :Eh, don’t need to sleep really, but I guess you could say so: _

 

“So,” Rosie started speaking, bringing you out of your mental conversation. “Ya think we’re gonna see Papyrus again?”

 

“Probably. He and his brother must live nearby, otherwise they wouldn’t be working in the forest.” You remark. “And we haven’t gotten really far into the town, so they probably live further in, as we did see Paps run off into town.”

 

“True. Aahhhmmm.” She dropped her last bite down her throat like a baby bird eating from it’s mother’s beak. “So let’s find out what else this town has to offer, before continuing on to Waterfall.”

 

**_“You think there is gonna be lots of waterfalls in Waterfall?”_ **

 

“I guess so, monsters seem to have a habit of giving things really obvious names. Like Snowdin, for example. Or maybe it’s just the king.” Rosie shrugged as she put the blanket back into your pack. For a brief moment you see an grey fox tail coming out from under her blue hoodie, but then it’s gone. Frisk is jumping on the bed next to you.

 

“Aright, squirt. Off the bed. Gotta make sure everything looks like it was when we got here.” You dismiss what you saw as a remnant of a forgotten dream and threw off the covers. Standing up as Frisk jumped onto Rosie’s back, you made the bed. 

 

“Hey, Friskers? Wanna race when we get outside?” Your friend asked.

 

**_“To where?”_ ** You turn around in time to see Frisk sign one handed.

 

“The far edge of town. So wadda say?”

 

Frisk slid off her back so they could sign properly.  **_“What are the stakes?”_ **

 

“Hmmmm.” Rosie looked over at you and grinned.

 

“No. I’m going to stop that train of thought right there. You are not going to use me in this.” You pointed a finger at her. Slinging your pack over your shoulders you continue, “You want to do this race, fine. Just watch where your going. Out of curiosity, what were you going to do?”

 

“The winner was gonna smooch you on the cheek. But you have to be a party pooper.” Rosie blew a raspberry. “Hmmm.”

 

**_“How about loser has to buy winner dinner?”_ ** Frisk suggests.  **_“And nothing is off limits.”_ **

 

“Fine by me!” She bounced eagerly on her toes. “Shall we go and see what else this world has in store?”

 

“Yes, lets.” You open the door and follow your friends down the stairs, handing the key to the bunny at the desk. You step outside and see Frisk and Rosie lined up, ready to start their little race. “Alright you two. Race fair, and race clean. Ready? Set! Go!” And off they went, dodging the villagers expertly.  How did they know exactly where the monsters would be? Have they been here before? That’s impossible, you all just got here. 

 

You follow in their wake at your own pace, taking in the sights. The town reminded you of Christmas Town from _ the Nightmare Before Christmas _ with nearly every house decorated with strands of lights. There even was a large Christmas tree in the middle of town with presents under it. There was a bear inspecting them, and a small armless lizard wearing a striped shirt hopping from one foot to the other excitedly. You remember from the stuff that Toriel taught you that monster children wore striped shirts. One of the buildings caught your eye. A cheerful, warm looking restaurant, looking through the window you could see a man made of fire standing behind the bar cleaning a glass and all of the dog monsters you had encountered were sitting at various tables talking. You look up at the sign and see the place is called Grillby’s.  _ ‘Probably the name of that fire guy. He seems to be the one calling the shots.’ _ You snicker at your pun and continue to follow the trail left by your friends. Peanut simply groaned.

 

_ :Really? You make a pun that only you and I can hear, for what reason?: _

 

_ ‘Can’t someone appreciate their own creativity?’ _

 

_ :...........: _

 

You pass by a building that had library misspelled.  _ ‘You think they know about that?’ _

 

_ :Probably do, and they probably don’t care: _

 

_ ‘Guess your right. Oh, there they are.’  _ You approach your friends, who are laying in the snow panting a little ways past the last house. “So, who owes who dinner?”

 

“I..... owe..... Them....” Rosie panted and then stood up. She offered them a hand up she continued, “Damn, kiddo. Your good. Maybe you should try out for track and field, if we decide to return to the surface.”

 

**_“We’ll see.”_ ** They accept the offered hand and jump up to their feet. 

 

“So, this is the edge of town.” You could see the river flowing by with large blocks of ice between the large conifer trees that lined the shore. Just ahead of you was a fog bank, you assumed that it was due to the climate change. “Let's keep going.” You take careful steps forward, keeping the sound of the river on your left. Suddenly a shadow formed in the distance. As you drew closer, you saw that it was Papyrus. 

 

“HUMANS! ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOW!!!” 

 

What? Is he serious?  _ :Yep: ‘Oh, dear.’ _

 

_ “ _ I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE. I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMANS ... WORRY NOT!!! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE YOUR...” He faltered in his speech and turned away from you. “...NO... NO, THIS IS ALL WRONG! I CAN'T FRIENDS WITH YOU!” He turned back to you. “YOU ARE ALL HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM!!! POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!! THAT'S PAPYRUS!!! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” And combat had begun. You could still hear the river and in front of your chests were your Souls. Above them floated your HP.  **30/20 HP** for both you and Frisk while Rosie was only at  **20/20 HP** . 

 

_ :Papyrus blocks the way!: _

 

“Oh stars....” Rosie muttered and sighed. “I was hoping that we wouldn't have to do this. Oh well.”

 

“Wait, why do Frisk and I have over our max HP?” You voiced your confusion.

 

“SLEEPING ALWAYS GIVES YOU A BOOST!” Papyrus informed you. 

 

“Oh. Wait, Rosie! You went to sleep before us!” You scold your friend. 

 

“Hey, now isn’t really the time to be the mom-friend.” She states bluntly.

 

You open up your ACT menu and find: CHECK, INSULT and FLIRT. “Oh no.” You sigh and press CHECK.

 

_ :Papyrus 8 ATK 2 DEF. He likes to say “Nyeh heh heh!”: _

 

“NYEH HEH HEH!” A series of small bones sprang from the ground and flew harmlessly past you. Neither of the options appealed to you, and like hell were you going to FIGHT him. You had a feeling that Sans was watching from somewhere and you had the feeling that he would not be kind if you harmed his brother. You still didn’t know who was older. You hit the SPARE button.

 

“SO! YOU WON’T FIGHT! LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!” More bones come flying at you. Some came flying through the air others along the ground, all of them blue. You hold still as one goes straight through your chest you feel a wave of strangeness, like you’ve been hit there before. But that’s never happened..... Right? The bones disappeared and a blue aura appeared around your Soul, and you felt heavier, like someone had put the lead boots from Zelda on you. The blue was a bit brighter than your own blue, and glancing over at Frisk and Rosie you saw that their Souls had turned completely blue. You were surprised to find that they were NOT surprised by the sudden gravity increase or the fact that they were now blue like you. You resist the urge to start humming  [ that song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmF_2u-9nk) . A tiny little bone comes from behind you, knocking you off your feet and onto your butt. 

 

**26/20 HP**

“YOU'RE BLUE NOW. THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!”

 

“Well this is gonna be interesting.” Rosie remarked calmly. She and Frisk were unharmed by the surprise baby bone.

 

_ :Papyrus remembered a bad joke Sans told and is now frowning: _

 

“That’s one way to put it, I guess.” You struggle to your feet. “But seriously, our options for ACTing kinda suck..... Why should I  _ flirt _ with this skeletor? I guess he’s cute...” You accidently hit the FLIRT option. Frisk does a double pistol and a wink at Paps while Rosie..... 

 

“Such a loser....” She mutters, brushing over INSULT.

 

“BLUE HUMAN! HOW SELFLESS... YOU WANT ME TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT FIGHTING YOU... I DON'T DESERVE SUCH HOSPITALITY FROM YOU... WHAT!? AND FL-FLIRTING FROM YOUR FRIENDS!? SO YOU BOTH FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL! I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!!!!” Papyrus stutters. 

 

_ :Ya got two options to respond with. Either you can make spaghetti or you have zero redeeming qualities: _

 

_ ‘Seriously?’ _

 

_ :Yup: _

 

“I can make spaghetti.” Both you and Frisk say, or rather sign in Frisk’s case.  _ ‘Why am I going with this?’ _

 

“OH NO!!! YOU'RE MEETING ALL MY STANDARDS!!! I GUESS THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU...? LET'S DATE L-LATER!! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!” More bones of various sizes come flying at you. 

 

_ :Because you can’t stand to hurt him... Even though he seems to not get who is being insulted..... Also you should probably jump:  _ You follow Peanut’s advice and jump over the bones, but one still manages to whack you in the shins.

 

**22/20 HP**

 

_ :Papyrus is thinking about what to wear for the date: _

 

“Ok. He is 1000% a cinnamon roll. Even though he is fighting us. And doing a good amount of damage.” You bite back a swear word or two and tap the FLIRT option. 

 

“Heh, I guess we have a greater appreciation for Link whenever we put on the lead boots for the water levels.” You glance at her and she has this lazy grin. 

 

**12/20 HP** was where her health bar sat. She must have gotten whacked by several bones. A quick look at Frisk showed they were still at full health. 

 

**_“You’d think that someone might have discovered your amazingness, aside from your brother.”_ ** Frisk continued to flirt. 

 

“Who would want to go on a date?” Rosie tapped the INSULT button. 

 

“Rosie!”

 

“THERE'S NO NEED TO LIE TO YOURSELF!!! YOUR BARBS HIDE A HIDDEN AFFECTION! YOU EMOTIONAL CACTUS! AND OH NO!!! LET'S DATE L-LATER!! AFTER I CAPTURE YOU!” Papyrus sent more bones for you to jump over. You discovered that if you tensed your legs, you could jump over the taller ones. You couldn't help but snicker at the cactus remark, but that distracted you enough that you got whacked in the back by another bone.

 

**18/20 HP**

 

“Owwww.”

 

“Careful there, (Name). They're coming from both sides now.” Rosie stated the obvious. 

 

“Gee, I hadn't realized.” You deadpan. “Thanks.” 

 

She merely laughs. “C’mon. This just simply won’t do. Why wouldn’t he do something like this. He is trying to capture us after all. Though he ain’t doing a good job.” She hit the insult button again.

 

“ROSIE! He’s a nice guy and is trying his best! Give him some credit!” You scold her, hitting the flirt option.

 

“Well excuse me for being blunt!” Rosie danced out of the way of the fresh wave of bones. The bones were alternating in size now, some reaching to your waist. With the helpful advice of  _ :Crouch then jump to jump higher: _ from Peanut, you clear them easily.

 

“PLEASE! STOP FIGHTING EACH OTHER HUMANS! YOUR SUPPOSE TO BE FIGHTING ME! THERE IS ENOUGH OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO GO AROUND!” 

 

_ :Flirting won't get you any further in this Fight: _

 

She merely snorted and tapped her ITEM button and took a pull from her vape. You watched as her health rose a few points to  **18/20.**

 

**_“How did your vape restore points?”_ ** Frisk signed the question that was on the tip of your tongue. 

 

“Hmm?” She blew the smoke off to the side with a shrug. “The shop bunny had a bottle of home brew juice and I figured it might be handy. Now aren't we in the middle of something. Finish your turn.”

 

Out of curiosity you open your ITEMS menu. In it was a cinnamon bunny and a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie.  _ ‘How did those get there? I don't recall getting them.’ _

 

_ :It's what's in your backpack. Tori slipped the pie in before you left and McKay put the bunny in last night. The ITEMS menu only shows things that have magic in them. Or rather things that have an effect on a Soul. Health items, weapons, and armor all show up: _ Peanut explained.  _ :Those two are healing items, but I wouldn't bother using them until you fall below your max HP: _

 

_ ‘Huh. Interesting. How do you know Rosie’s last name?’ _ You exit the menu and just hit the Mercy option again. Frisk also spared him.

 

_ :I live inside your head. I can see all of your memories: _

 

“WELL THEN!! I GUESS IF YOU REFUSE TO FIGHT, THEN I SHALL BE FORCED TO USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!” Papyrus sent more bones for you to jump over. 

 

“Oh no.....” Rosie groaned and puffed her vape again, healing back to full. You and Frisk spare him. 

 

“NEXT ROUND I WILL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!” More bones came flying at you, and once more you hit spare. “ALRIGHT, I SHALL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK THAT WILL ABSOLUTELY AMAZE YOU!!! I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY!!! PAPYRUS: HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD! PAPYRUS: UNPARALLELED SPAGETTORE! UNDYNE WILL BE REALLY PROUD OF ME!!  [ THE KING ](http://undertale.wikia.com/wiki/Asgore_Dreemurr) WILL TRIM A HEDGE IN THE SHAPE OF MY SMILE!!! MY BROTHER WILL ... WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH. I'LL HAVE LOTS OF ADMIRERS!! BUT... WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS SINCERELY AS YOU?” He monologues as he began to concentrate really hard and then there was a pair of short barks. Everyone turned towards the sound and saw that dog from earlier, munching on a bone. “WHAT THE HECK! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME!? STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!!! HEY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!!!” The dog dashed off, much to the distress of Papyrus. 

 

“How about you just do a really cool normal attack?” Rosie suggested, grinning with amusement. “I’m sure a skeleton as amazing and cool as you can make an artful masterpiece.” 

 

“THAT IS A WONDERFUL IDEA, BLUE HUMAN!!” He cackled with glee and sent wave after wave of increasing in size bones. Then after a short break where you could catch your breath from jumping so much, a very large forest of bones came at you. You could see a  _ very _ big bone towering over it.

 

_ ‘How am I gonna jump that?!?!’ _

 

_ :Just do it. Have faith, (Name): _ You let out a sigh and jump with all your might. As you felt gravity start to take hold of you, you had the sensation of flying. Around your Soul, the surrounding aura seemed to pulsate ever so slightly. Over the dinosaur bone you flew, and then down you drifted. When you touched the ground, the aura became steady. Breathing a sigh of relief, you jump over a series of bones that spelled out ‘Cool Dude’ followed by a bone wearing sunglasses riding a skateboard and the Annoying Dog.  _ :See? Not a single point of damage: _

 

_ ‘How? Wait, no I don’t want to know. The answer is probably magic. That seems to be the answer for just about everything down here....’ _

 

_ :Good. You’re learning: _

 

“That was a truly amazing attack, Papyrus!” Rosie clapped and cheered. 

 

“WELL...! 'HUFF' IT'S CLEAR... YOU CAN'T! 'HUFF' DEFEAT ME!!! YEAH!!! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!!! THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY!! I WILL SPARE YOU, HUMAN!!! NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO ACCEPT MY MERCY.” 

 

_ :Papyrus is sparing you: _

 

“Gladly.” Everyone hit the MERCY button one last time and the world returned  _ finally _ to it’s rightful colors. With the encounter over, your Souls returned to their resting places with in your chests and the magic from the blue attack dissipated. 

 

“NYOO HOO HOO... I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU... UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN ME. I'LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD... AND...MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!” Papyrus cried. You felt kinda bad for him. You hear Rosie let out an exasperated sigh.

 

“By the Shards! Papyrus! We want to be your friends... That is if you want... We are humans after all, and you  _ did  _ try to capture us.” She offered, scratching the back of her head and looking at the river, watching giant ice cubes float by. 

 

“REALLY!? YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, WITH ME??? WELL THEN... I GUESS... I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! WOW!!! I HAVE FRIENDS!!! AND WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE THEM.. WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM?? YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT, HUMAN. I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH! AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE. CONTINUE FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN...WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT... EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL. LIKE YOU THREE!!! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANT TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN. HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE! OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU... TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS... THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE. THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS... HE IS......” He paused dramatically for a moment. “WELL...HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER!!! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY. I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY... ‘EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR... CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?’ HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY!!! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING!!! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HANG OUT OR TO HAVE THAT DATE!!!” He laughed and danced away back towards his home.

 

After he was gone, you shared a slightly flabbergasted look with Rosie and Frisk. “Does he really not know what happens?” You questioned.

 

“Of course not.” Rosie snorted and sucked on her vape for a moment. “He maybe in training, but he is far too innocent and naive to know the truth.” 

 

“I guess.... But maybe he isn't as innocent as you think. It might just be a clever ruse.” You pointed out. 

 

“Eh. I guess.” She pulled her phone and looked at the time. “Huh. That encounter went on longer then I thought. It's almost lunchtime. C’mon, I’m curious about Waterfall.”

 

**_“Yeah!! And maybe we'll see the Nice Cream bunny again!!”_ ** Frisk bounced eagerly off down the path. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hi more backstory and world building....


	11. A Date??? oh and a brief glimpse of Waterfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a brief glimpse of waterfall and back to Snowden for lunch!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry that it's been this long since i've updated..... i wanted to do both Sans' lunch date AND Papyrus' date/hang out but that hang out is giving me problems. so just have this spooky puny skelly

The change between zones is very noticeable. Going from cold and snow everywhere to dirt and a temperate climate. A pair of waterfalls fell on your right, their origin somewhere above the tunnel you were in. Ahead of you you could see a strange fish monster who looked like a mer-person, but both ends were fish, standing next to a blue flower that is roughly the same size as a sunflower. Beyond him you saw Sans in an exact replica of his sentry station from the forest, down to the snow, with his head resting on a hand, looking at you with that lazy grin. On the other side of the small room another waterfall cascaded down into the murky shadows. Next to it stood the armless child from before. There was something glimmering next to the kid and Frisk briefly touched it.  _ ‘How did that monster kid get here?’ _

 

_ :How do you think? They rushed past you when you were in the middle of your fight with Papyrus: _

 

_ ‘Oh, right.’  _ Curious about the flower, you touched one of its petals and jumped when a voice came out of it. 

 

_ “The only thing in life that makes me happy is to explain the echo flower.” _

 

**_“Excuse me? What type of flower is that?”_ ** Frisk got the attention of the strange fish.

 

“Why, that is an Echo flower! It repeats whatever it heard last, over and over.... Pretty neat, huh?”He explained, almost giddy with glee. And then as an aside, “But sometimes they are nasty little liars. You can never fully trust what you hear from a flower.”

 

You think of Flowey and his remark about Rosie. Wait... Didn't she have a tail and more HP then? 

 

_ :No. She only had 20 then. Just as she does now:  _

 

_ ‘Oh. Huh.’ _

 

_ :I can't believe that I have to keep this up: _ Peanut muttered. 

 

_ ‘Keep what up?’ _

 

_ :...:  _ You could feel her retreat to the back of your mind and put up a wall. You decide to ignore her for now as Frisk ran up to Sans.

 

**_“Hi Sans!”_ **

 

“heya, kiddo.”

 

“I thought you worked in Snowdin forest?” You raised an eyebrow at him. 

 

“what? you’ve never seen a guy work more than one job before?” He raised an eye bone back at you. “but one of the perks of having multiple jobs is having many more legally required breaks. speaking of, wanna head to Grillby’s and get some lunch? my treat.”

 

“I-” Before you could say more, your stomach let out a rumble. “Heh. I guess all that running around I did dodging Papyrus’s attacks made me hungry. Sure, let’s go.”

 

“great, come over this way.” Sans slide out of his seat and then held out his hand to you. You looked over at Rosie as you took his hand as Frisk eagerly took a hold of his other hand.

 

“I’ll meet you there.” She grinned and winked. 

 

“Ok...” You were slightly confused as Grillby’s was in the middle of town behind you. 

 

“close your eyes.” You do as Sans suggests and felt a tugging sensation and then you were falling but before you had time to open your mouth to scream you were on solid ground again. “you can open them now.” 

 

You opened them to find you were standing at the entrance to Grillby’s. Rosie came jogging up to you from the same direction as you came from. 

 

“Hah-hah-hah... Guess you guys beat me.” She panted. 

 

“How? How did we-?”

 

“magic~”  _ :Magic:  _ **_“Magic”_ ** Sans, Frisk and Peanut said it in almost perfect harmony complete with jazz hands. 

 

“Really?” You raised an eyebrow at them.  _ :And here I was thinking you had learned already....: _

 

“Really. Sorry, (Name), I think that is the best answer you'll get.” Rosie laughed and then held open the door. “C’mon, I can smell some hamburgers from here.”

 

A chorus of voices went up as you stepped inside, all greeting Sans. “Sansy ~” “Heya, Sans.” “Sans...” “....Hello.” You saw all of the guard dogs seated around several tables. A very drunk looking bunny sat in the booth closest to the door, a plant monster with a whole lot of teeth sat in the booth behind the bunny. At the bar sat a shabby looking fish and bird. In the corner of the room by the end of the bar you could see a jukebox that had a cool looking hamster fiddling with it. Behind the bar stood the flame element that you saw earlier. 

 

“heya, Grillby.” Sans waved at the elemental and sat at the end of the bar. He gestured to the open stools next to him. “take a seat. the only things on the menu is hamburgers and fries.”

 

“I’ll have fries AND a hamburger. I’m hungry after all that running.” Rosie sat at the small table next to the window and rested her head in her hand with a grin. 

 

“I’ll have a hamburger.” You sit at the bar on Sans’s right while Frisk sits on his left. A loud fart sounded as they sat down. 

 

“careful, there is somebody that like to leave whoopie cushions around.” Sans chuckled.

 

**_“I want fries.”_ ** They signed. 

 

“so, 3 orders of fries and 2 burgs.” He told the bartender. Grillby nodded and walked into the back. “hey, what do you think about Papyrus? he's pretty cool, right?”

 

“Yeah, he is amazing.” You can't help but grin as you pictured the tall skeleton with the wind flowing through his scarf. Grillby came back out from the back with a tray of fries, two burgers, and a bottle of ketchup.

 

“heh. want some ketchup?” Sans offered the bottle to you. 

 

“No thanks.” You declined his offer and took a big bite of your burger. As you chewed, you could swear you died and gone to heaven. “This is the BEST burger I have ever had!!” You praised the bartender.

 

“ok, more ketchup for me.” Sans just drank the bottle of ketchup and you stared at him for a moment as Grillby took one of the baskets of fries  and the other burger over to Rosie. 

 

“Seriously? You drink ketchup?” You ask. “You know that's not the weirdest thing I've seen before. Rosie likes to drink soy sauce.”

 

“really now? well, back to Papyrus. it's been his dream to be part of the Royal Guard. one day he went to the captain's house and begged her to let him join. she slammed the door in his face, as he did go to her at midnight. but the next morning he was still there, so she decided to give him some special training before she could let him join.” Sans grinned and then time seemed to freeze. “you ever heard of a talking flower? Papyrus seems to be getting encouragement, advice, even predictions from it.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve heard of one.” You say warily, not sure what flower he was talking about. 

 

“ah, it's probably just an echo flower that someone is usin’ to prank my bro.” Sans sighed and time resumed with a blink.  _ ‘What was that all about?’  _

 

_ :What do you think? I think it a warning about Flowey. Speak of the devil, I can see him at the window: _ You look over at Rosie, who was talking to Grillby quietly. Behind her you can see Flowey watching you from outside. When he noticed you watching him in turn, he grinned darkly and ducked below the window sill.

 

“Why would someone would do that?” You turned back to Sans, wondering how Peanut could see Flowey if she was inside your mind. 

 

_ :I’m not exactly in your mind. You just hear me there, I’ll explain the details when you aren't in company: _

 

“i don't know. it's just a thought.”

 

**_“I’m sure that everything will turn out fine.”_ ** Frisk grinned up at him. 

 

“Yeah!” Before much more could be said, Rosie’s laughter rang out across the restaurant. Everyone looked over to see her laughing madly while Grillby seemed to be very embarrassed shade of red. “Rosie, what did you say?” You call out to her, an exasperated sigh escaping your lips.

 

“It’s- *snort* It’s nothing! I just told him that he was quite  _ hot _ and that I’d felt we had a real  _ spark _ between us.” 

 

“..... I am... so done with you....” Grillby left the room, heading back to the kitchen, while Rosie continued to snicker.

 

“i have to give you kudos there, Blue. i’ve never managed to get that type of reaction outta him.” Sans commented. “anyway, i think you lot have pulled me away from my work long enough. see ya later, and Grillby, just put it on my tab.” He hopped off the stool and walked out. Your party went quiet as you all finished the food you had ordered. 

 

“Well, that was amazing.” You let out a contented sigh. “But I’m curious about the next area. So let’s get going, shall we?”

 

“Sure. See ya later, Grillby!!” Rosie waves to him as you left. The townsfolk mostly has gone back to their own homes for lunch so your little party was alone as you walked over to the entrance to Waterfall. 

 

“AH!! FRIENDS!! YOU CAME BACK!! YOU MUST BE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS...I AM HERE, READY AND WAITING FOR THAT HANGOUT AND DATE!!!” Papyrus stood in front of the last home at the edge of town. 

 

“How about-“ you were about to suggest this evening but Frisk had other ideas. 

 

**_“Let's have it now!!”_ **

 

“What?” You and Rosie said at the same time. 

 

“REALLY?!?! THEN LET ME TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE SPECIAL!!! SOMEPLACE I LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME!!”

 

“Ok. You three have fun. I’m gonna wait - hrk!!” Rosie was cut off as Papyrus grabbed her hood and tugged her along with you and Frisk. He dragged you almost all the way to Grillby’s and then back to his house. 

 

“MY HOUSE!!!” He then ran in, obviously expecting you to follow him.


End file.
